What flooring is in the hallway highlighted in yellow?

Where are the windows? Generally, it is recommended to lay floorboards WITH the direction of light. Mine, of corse, are run bowling alley style, since I have an uninterrupted line of site from one end of the house to the other! It causes the edges of the boards to show up, which stops the eye.

Run the ceramic tile with the length of the room, and if the hallway is also woodlike tile, you can run that the length of the hallway and turn the tile at the doorways just like they would do with hardwood floors.

Hey, that's my floor!

Oly - Have you ever Googled your own images ? This Co. likes your image as well :http://www.rupolish.com/laying-down-laminate-flooring-direction/

Funny they use it as an example for laying laminate! I don't care one whit, just thought it was funny it popped up here. Thanks!

I was afraid the colors would be confusing. Every space except for the two rooms on the right are getting the tile. I've changed the picture and added blue lines where the windows are. I added them at the doors as well because each of those doors has a window.

Ok. I have redone the house plan. This is a little closer to what we have. It also has the layout of the bathrooms and the laundry though the laundry is fatter than it is in real life.

I've layed out the tile on this picture according to the windows like was suggested. I've layed the hallway like I understood, but know I could be wrong on it. And it all looks kind all over the place from the picture.

If I lay out the hallway this way do we miter at the corner by the family room. And what do I do at the intersection of the 3 bedrooms in the hallway? Or should I just take them going all the same direction that is coming from the front door?

Also, what about the closets? Transition into them or lay them the same room as the room?

Sorry, can't figure out how to delete the smaller picture.

Beverly - I like how you did that with the wood look! It makes it much easier to see. When I realized my picture had caused some confusion I realized there were some important parts I hadn't drawn well. One is right there where the hallway, family room and living room meet. Since the bedroom comes over farther (I moved the wall on the picture) where would you now put the border?

The closets are the same direction as the room itself just like they do wood floors. Are you doing this yourself or are you hiring a professional? Some of these decisions regarding how to stop and start are affected by more than just the floor plan. Consult with the person who is laying the floor to work out the fine points. The transition into the Family Room is one of those conditions that will require more input to do correctly. Remember you're trying to make it appear like wood, so the use of wood transition details will help your decision.

I would make that interior hallway run the same way as the hallway to the exterior (meaning I wouldn't switch directions there, but run it horizontal in the hallway). I think it would be less awkward than trying to switch directions in that central space. Or, in the alternative, I'd run the floor into and in the family room the same direction as the entry hall. I think it would look fine and your eye would be drawn into that room by the continuity of the floor. It might even widen the room vs. giving it a bowling alley effect, since it is so much longer than wide. If the living room is open to the family room and entry hall, I might run that room to flow the same way as the entry hall, too. I don't know how to do the visual that Beverly did, but I'd be interested to see how it looks.

We are having someone else do it. We have a friend who is a contractor. The guys we are hiring for the tile is his top recommendation and did his tiles for his house as well.

The space between the entry and the living room is open. It has a step down into it - just to the right of the wood where the tile seems to be a different color. Here is what it looked like before we moved in. The wood "railing" thing is still there. The picture only shows about half of the room and very little of the entry. The ceiling is also raised in this room.

Looking at this I am amazed at how much a little paint can do. The walls are now a light green. The wood is a satin black and doesn't have such a 70ish look any more.

seeing that pic, I'd be interested if Beverly still thinks the flooring should run perpendicular to the entry hall. I think I'd keep it all going the same direction, but maybe that would be a tripping hazard? The change in direction will show that there is a step down.

I would do every room the same. I think otherwise it will look odd as real wood floors would be laid across the joists of the house. So if you were doing real wood floors, they would not change the flooring direction from area to area. If you want something a little different for the hallways, I would do a single tile bordering around the edges to set that off a bit. Or choose a different tile for the hallway or do a herringbone pattern for the narrow areas. Often times the tile comes in different dimensions so you can do something a little different in some areas but the color etc. remains the same.

I would do every room running in the same direction. Personally, I like parallel to the front door, but perpendicular would be fine too.

I absolutely would do all rooms/floors in the same direction otherwise it's a jigsaw puzzle. Just like real wood, it's supposed to mimic real wood.

I think Beverly has it right .
There are walls between the direction of the wood (I mean tiles) so it really won't be as as noticeable as in the diagrams above.
Here's a photo that shows a sunken area with wood going the opposite direction ...Imagine also that there is a wall to the left and notice how they marry the two hallways :

Personally I would not change the directions all the time like that, but I think it's just a matter of preference. We've had several homes with extensive wood floors, and the direction didn't change for the halls, etc. One current home we have now even has angled halls and the hardwood continues in them at a diagonal so that the wood is installed the same direction all over. When we remodeled a home and had to patch in wood flooring in one area, the flooring direction was perpendicular to the rest in just the dining room. The installers added in a piece of walnut wood around the perimeter of the dining room where it changed, and it stained up darker when the same stain was applied. It looked like we planned that as an accent. The only time they changed the direction of the wood was if the ends of the wood butted into a room with tile, then a single piece of wood was installed perpendicular to the wood ends, but completely flat with the tile.

We just toured a local model home in SoCal that used the wood look tile in a distressed looking finish. It was beautiful, and the tiles were installed lengthwise as you entered the home's entry and continued that direction throughout the entire first floor.

I think 4boys2 picture is a good example of how it would look going different directions. It's obviously personal taste, but that picture makes me dizzy. Definitely all the same way in my opinion.

As beautiful as the floors are in the above picture, that would make me cuckoo to have all that going on.

Thank you everyone! I'm still having a bit of a debate and I have to decide by tomorrow! I've decided to do the whole house the same direction except for maybe the living room. I'll run it perpendicular to do the door (or lengthwise, or like the like the pictures all show). I'm still stuck on the living room. Seeing the visual above really helped me see that it would probably drive me crazy to be turning it in the rest of the house. We're going to lay some tile down tonight in the living room and entry before the tile guys come tomorrow and see what we think so I can get a good visual.

The other place I am stuck is the pool bathroom. I hadn't thought about which direction there because it has a separate entrance, but is connected to the house. It is small. The storage/changing room next to it is 7X6 and has a water heater in it.. The tile amount for the bathroom is 4-5 square feet total. Would you run the tile this way in both rooms?

yes

yes