Straight vs Herringbone

[OtherS]

I have a new home, that currently has no floor. The walls are also old, stained and covered in various paint colours. So I'm having difficultly visualising what it will look like fully done. I have decided to go for a mid brown oak LVT, but can't decide whether to stick with straight or go for herringbone. The latter is obviously more expensive, but worth it if I'm going to spend the next decade kicking myself for getting straight instead for the sake of a few hundred quid. Does herringbone sometimes look a bit busy? Is it starting to look overdone, or is it classic and will never date? The straight just looks a little dull, and maybe rather more rustic than the look I was aiming for. But once painted and furnished, with rugs on top, that may not be the case.

The main room I'm concerned about is the living room, which is about 3.5m*3.5m, with lowish ceilings.

Fitting flooring will be one of the last things you do. Wait and see what you think further to down the line when it's easier to visualise. The only thing I would say is that whenever I see flooring laid diagonally I think it looks wrong and it would drive me mad in my own home!

Why don’t you mock it up on chat gpt? You can put in a photo of the room and ask it to create two versions, one with plank, and one with herringbone.

Herringbone is timeless and I don’t think will necessarily “date” - the romans used the herringbone pattern to create roads back in the day. Ultimately it’s your choice in what you think will work best in the room. A lot of people have herringbone now so you might see it as overdone - but who cares! If that’s what you like go for it and don’t base your interior design decisions on trends.

I'm not currently living there so have only seen it as an empty room. I think I need to paint first so I don't get paint everywhere, then do the floor before I put the furniture in. So until I actually move all my stuff in, I won't know if I made the right decision. It's the first place of my own and I really want to make sure I don't regret my decision - at least with paint I can just redo it, but I don't really want to have to haul all my furniture out to relay the floor if I don't like it!

I think I do prefer the herringbone, but maybe want to be talked out of it. The straight also looks great, and would be fine. And it's £500 cheaper. I just very much don't want to be kicking myself in years time for not just going for the one I prefer, and I do know what I'm like...

I maybe have my answer!

Oh, go on, get the one you like.

😊

Whilst herring bone is lovely it can look too busy in smaller rooms

I’ve always been a herringbone fan. If you’ve got the money to get it and it will last years, I say go for it. Maybe it means it takes you a bit longer to fix up something else but the floor is a key part of the decor and takes up a lot of the visual space.

I think it makes sense to go herringbone. I am worried it might look a bit busy, but I've chosen a pretty safe colour so I don't think it would be too distracting. And it would be a lot nicer in the hall. I do think the straight planks look a bit too country cottage, which isn't really what I'm going for. I still feel furious with myself for not getting clothes I saw 20 years ago as I was being 'sensible' - I don't tend to get over my regrets easily! So for the sake of £500 on a floor which will hopefully last a decade, it seems to make sense to go for it.

Realise I have pictures - don't like any of the paints, but do like that herringbone...!