The herringbone is going to come in at a 45 degree to the planks, no? So you will need to cut each one of those anyway. If you cut them, you can route them. The plank will have a tongue straight across the door unless you run it from that wall into the opposite, in which case you just put a spline in. And if you have routed the herringbone, you just slip them over the spline. I do it all the time. If you've never routed anything, just go buy a router and table. You can get them both for $150 or less. No need to go top quality since it's not your life work. Just get a good 1/4 inch bit and remember that the wood is made so that the tongue or groove has more wood on top than on the bottom. Take a look at any piece of flooring and you'll see what I mean - the groove is not dead center along the length. It's not that much extra work. Don't know how your transition is going to be - in other words is there a doorway or an arch or something? If so, you can put a strip in there to break it more cleanly visually. In my house, I had a lot of wood around, so I put in something like wenge, maple, birch, walnut, or something similar. They are at the same level so you don't have something raised between the two. I hate not having the 2 tied in. Some people don't go thru the effort I mentioned, but for me it's the best solution by far.

Love herringbone! It is timeless and stunning! And that is just the price tag! I kid you not. The 2-3 times the labour is bang on. And that ASSUMES you have planks that are PERFECT for the install. If you do not, and they have to be cut, it could be the "3 -4 times" the labour. Engineered floors can be installed this way...but it is more common with solid hardwood. Expect 15% - 20% waste as well. These patterns are HIGH END floors. They are HEAVILY SOUGHT AFTER. They add tremendous amount of value to a home. Which means you need a home that can HANDLE that upgrade. If you home is $250K (in an area where $650K is expensive) but you put in $35K worth of herring bone, that may not be the right investment. It certainly can handle $15K hardwood...but $35K might be too much for the house/market to handle. Then again if you have a $1.5M house (other than Vancouver BC) a herring bone upgrade is right on track for the market to absorb the higher value floor. You will get some if not most of your investment back. The style of home and the inherent value of the home will tell you if the intense investment is worth it. But then again if you LOVE herring bone and don't care about the investment (you just want beautiful wood floors that scream out GORGEOUS AND EXPENSIVE) then have fun. It is your home. If you are going to the trouble/expense of putting in herring bone, PLEASE make sure your engineered hardwood floors can be refinished at least 3 times (offering 50-60 years of life). Anything less and you lose the longevity of this valuable pattern.

The best DESIGN option = same tile throughout. The sad thing is the tile may no longer be available. Now you are into some weird design elements that no one explained at the time you installed the wood-look tile. In essence you have "wet" areas that are covered in "wood". You are now looking at having to put traditional looking tile or stone in the living areas normally reserved for wood. This is Bass Akwards in the eyes of many (myself included). Personally, being a cork flooring expert, I would replace carpet with cork floating flooring. It is soft and quiet and is NOT wood looking. But I know cork and I know how to live with its eccentricities. I'm 1% of the population. The other 99% can't handle cork. In an ideal world, you would have used a stone look tile in the kitchen areas and a wood-look tile for the rest of the house because that's traditionally where you would put wood. I would check to see if you can find the original wood-look tile. Be aware you will have issues with colour - assuming you can find the same product. Photos of what you are dealing with could help us.

Have the FLOORING PROFESSIONAL (ahem...not some 'guy' who also knocks down walls) to offer STAIN PATCHES. A stain patch is a patch of stain (usually they offer 3-5 different stains) with a SINGLE COAT of finish. The coat of finish is a MUST!!! Without the finish you are picking blind. If the builder is using red oak they are almost certainly using 'oil based' poly. Oil based poly = turns orange. And orange + red = FIRE RED. That's why you must stipulate: 1. Colour patches will be offered for viewing/choosing by the customer 2. Colour patches MUST be coated with 1 coat of polyurethane finish 3. Colour patches will be left on the floor for 24-48 hours so the homeowner can watch the stain turn colour throughout all lighting situations. 4. Customer will SIGN the stain they want and photograph for posterity before the sand/refinish is to occur. Realize that ALL of these stipulations will do two things: 1. Slow down the process 2. Irritate the Bejesus out of the Builder Be calm and firm and carry on. If the builder is cheaping out, you will know. It will be apparent in their reaction to your stipulations (put in writing of course). The bigger the negative reaction the cheaper s/he is working.