Decorating with Bruce Turlington American Exotic 5″ Maple

Q: We’re buying a new townhouse which will have hardwood flooring throughout the first floor. We’ve never had hardwood floor before and have had a very difficult time deciding what type of wood to go with as well as color. We’ve finally decided on one of our builder’s options which is Bruce Turlington American Exotic 5″ maple plank, color natural (with the help of ifloor where we ordered a box of the caramel color to help us decide).
So, my question is basically a decorating one. When you walk into the house, there is a long, wide hallway in front of you. The dining room is directly to your right and a short hallway to the laundry room is on your left. The model now has 5″ plank flooring installed straight from front to back. I think it looks a bit like a bowling alley and would like to have the floor installed at a 45 degree angle going towards the dining room and kitchen. I’ve enclosed two pictures, one of the entrance from above and one with the Bruce flooring we laid on top at a diagonal in the direction we would like it to go. Would this diagonal pattern work on the long center hallway or should we stay with the straight front to back pattern? I have a very hard time picturing the floor at a diagonal and don’t want to make a big mistake with this. I do value your opinion and thank you for your assistance.
Sincerely,
Ruthie B.

A: As a preface, decoration ideas are highly opinionated in regards to what looks great versus what looks terrible. What I will try to do is give you some installation sound ideas on how to break up the “bowling alley” feel.
Installing at an angle, when done properly and with care, can bring a great effect to a home; however, I would not suggest it for something like a hallway. Most angled installations are done in larger open rooms, as this is where they will perform better.
One of the reasons some folks choose to install hardwood floors is to make a room seem larger. The plank appearance of wood gives a natural feeling of openness and elongation – so that bowling alley look is exactly what should happen. Don’t despair though, there are plenty of ways to work around this.
The easiest idea would be to use runner sized area rugs (usually 2-3ft by 8ft or so). This will naturally deter attention and break up the floor some. Another idea is installation based.
This technique comes from Tad A., our Director of the Installation Program here at iFLOOR.com. Tad suggested building a foyer like break in the flooring. I’ve drawn a very basic mock-up from looking at the photos you included to give you an idea of how this would work. If you combine this with an area rug a bit farther down the hallway past your stairs you will get the best of both worlds, a great looking entryway and some additional break up with a well placed rug to accent your decor.
For the foyer like break, use a 2 or 3 board border, then install inside of it. Due to the width of your planks I would suggest using a 2 plank border. Your foyer can be anything from simple to a bit more artistic and difficult, though any good installer should be able to accomplish this installation easily. The border will be similar to a picture frame and you will want to use a bit of glue at the edges to ensure it anchors very well to the subfloor. From the border, you can install the dining room and hallways in differing orientations, but it will still flow well since the entire floor is the same wood and is connected to the entryway.

For the foyer you would be creating (assuming you like Tad’s suggestion as I feel it gives great potential to add some unique look appearances to your home) there are several artistic designs you can look into. Another thought would be to buy 1 – 2 boxes of a different color of the same floor and intermix a few of these boards in order to add some additional color to the floor and break up the hallway even more. Below I have drawn up a few design ideas including a few with some tile inserts (or you could use wood medallions) to give people something beautiful to look at the moment they enter your home.
Here are a few various designs including some using the herringbone technique for installation at a 90 degree angle and a few designs with some area for tile insets. Tile could be replaced with carpet or mosaics for various appearances.