Flooring Question: Creating the Illusion of Space

If you're trying to create the illusion of space, don't make the flooring 'cross' the door. It should flow from the door to the opposite end of the room. Makes the room look longer!!

(I knew watching Trading Spaces would come in handy someday!)

Does the mind give greater weight to a room's depth rather than it's width?

Confuse-did-say ‘lay the boards at a 45% angle and you will achieve your-own glory!’

3-5-12-20-26-30

Absolutely front to back, IMO. (does that sound dirty...?) Lines running along the length of the room will give the illusion of depth and length, obviously. Running them width-wise will result in lines that are much closer to the viewers point of view, therefore cutting off the space.

Do we get to see pictures when you are finished?

Flooring side to side should tweak the impression of width, in the same way that rings around a hose pipe will make it look fatter and lengthwise stripes will make it appear sufficiently longer to allow you to water the most distant corners of your garden.
To add an additional illusory false perspective depth in your room you could try making the pieces of crossing flooring progressively narrower the further from the vantage point they are. Also, furnishing the far end of the room with undersize furniture (as is used in furnished 'show homes' by builders) will make it look bigger. Allow only people sized at or below the 30th percentile to use the facilities and your're all set!

I'm with the first guy, you want the lines to flow away from you. I'd go with vertical from the door and not break up the flow.

Vertical from the door would draw you in and make the room feel more inviting. If you want to make the room look bigger an oversized mirror over the sink might do the trick.

My very tiny bathroom felt like it doubled in size when we installed a mirror that runs from the door to the shower. That may not work in your case, but it’s a thought.

Firstly: Front to back, for sure. This is assuming the room is perfectly square. If it isn't, ask an expert for some tips on how to disguise this.

Secondly: Those guys in 1951 who installed yellow-and-puke-green bathroom tile were probably thinking the same thing you are thinking about black bamboo, i.e. "Looks cool", although they probably said "Gee, this looks nifty (or "neat", or "spiffy", etc.)". Fifty years from now, whoever owns your house will say "What were they thinking back in 2008? Black bamboo?!?!?".

That is absolutlely and positively true. :)

Yellow and green aren't as bad as my neighbors house. After he passed away the house was sold to a great couple (their 1st home) and I was helping him tear out the old bathroom. I about had a seizure when I walked in for the 1st time. EVERYTHING was just a shade lighter than Pepto Bismol pink. And I mean EVERYTHING, tub, toilet, sink, tile, and paint. Imagine standing in a bottle of Pepto and you'll get the idea.

It now looks great by the way.

Gotta say I'd go with the diagonal. Funky. Works with bamboo.

And, our downstairs bathroom has vintage wallpaper from the late 60s, maybe early 70s, that consists of fake liquor bottles. Really. Can't wait til I can rip that out!!! Upstairs bathroom has institutional blue bath, toilet, and sink - and off white tile on the walls. Sigh. Gotta love those houses built in the early 60s!

Could you get some planks and experiment (even if you use lined paper)? See if you can get an idea and then get a few people to give their immediate impressions then ignore them and do what ever feels right.
I would have automatically laid them right to left but it's quite hard to say without seeing the room. Another consideration is the flooring in the rest of the house and area around it. I suspect it will look a bit funny if you go the opposite direction to the rest of the house.
Good choice on the bamboo flooring sustainable and hard wearing, although I reserve judgement on the colour.

The diagonal idea will work great if the room is not square. That is a great way to solve that problem if it exists.

The lay out idea also good. Lay down a few planks and see how they look.

Thinking about the multi-million dollar homes I worked on, the flooring guy always seemed to put the wood to create depth. So lines running from the door to the back wall. I vote for creating a V with the apex in the center of the doorway.

I had to pipe in. I think some of this depends on the view through the door. Is the door perpendicular to the counter/vanity? Or is it parallel? Run the boards parallel to the vanity instead of perpendicular to it. This would be regardless of the door. Running the boards perpendicular to the counter shortens the appearance of the room.

I agree with what the first person said. It will make the room seem bigger than it really is.

Also where is the door in relation to the room? Dead center of the wall? To one side? In the corner? Where is the tub/shower? Is this a full bath or a 3/4 bath? Or a half-bath?

And then They'll say "And what's with these drawings of ducks and lizards all over the walls?"

Ah yes, Wall paper that just screams "Why no, I'm not a drunk. But I want people to think that I am." Do me a favor a count the number of bottles of liquor on the wall. Are there 99?

I think from the door to the back would make the room look longer. But I am lazy too, so I would go with the direction which requires the fewest cuts. In the end that would use less material which is better for the environment. (That's my justification.) Wouldn't a black floor draw your eye down and make the room seem shorter?

Forget the door. It doesn't matter if it cuts across the doorway; what matters is that the longest open space has the boards flowing along it.

If the toilet and tub are along one wall and the sink, vanity and cabinet are along another, you want the long boards running parallel to those two walls, not tying those two walls together.

If the longest open space is a diagonal, then laying the boards diagonally might make sense.

Money owed to Dave for years of entertainment: $1,000,000.00
Credit for advice: $0.02 (get it?)

Balance: $999,999.98
Take a check?

Personally, I think you should go with a concentric series of squares radiating from the center of the room.

:)

Hi Dave,

All I know is that my wife says with my expanding waistline I should not wear horizontal striped shirts - it is all about the vertical. How this translates into flooring, I am not sure? Either way, I have seen your bathroom and it is probably not going to look like the Bellagio. Sorry. Hire a flooring contractor and take your wife out to dinner!
Pat

Is this the Guest Bathroom that's there for show, or the Real Bathroom that will get used daily by Real People? Or worse, Real Children?

  Because wood floors are fine in a 'Show Only' Guest Bathroom that's like a Living Room - nobody ever does any Living in their Living Room, that's for showing off your "Perfect House" to guests. You know, the one with the clear plastic slip-covers on the couch that get taken off only when your Rich Aunt Sarah comes over.

 The real Living in your house always happens in the Den or the Entertainment Room if you have one.

I'd be very hesitant to put down any sort of wood flooring in a Real Bathroom, unless you are all Type A personalities and are really careful not to drip or slop water all over, or to clean up fast and thoroughly if you do...

 Because water and any wood flooring products do not get along well at all. It soaks in, then the wood expands and warps and goes all yucky. And then you have to replace it all.

   They do make black ceramic floor tiles, and they even make "Plank" tiles in 6" x 18" to give the illusion of a plank floor.

  And if you go with the wood, remember to do the sub-floor prep right. Make sure the sub-floor is sound and tight and dead level before you lay the floor, so you don't have to do it again.

  And for tile, a fresh layer of concrete board underlayment cemented and nailed down to near death. Wood (or Bamboo) will flex a little, but tile cracks if the floor gives under load.

  If you want exotic, see if you can find a deal on Black Marble tiles. Or Black Terrazo (black marble chips in colored concrete), but it's really messy getting it ground after placement.

  Oh, and whatever you do, take up the toilet and tile completely under it, do not just cut the flooring around it. Toilets do get broken and need replacement occasionally, and the footprints never match - you would have to redo the whole floor again.

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It just occurred to me that if you're trying to create space, a black floor isn't the best way to go. Black floors tend to box a room in and actually make it feel more closed in. Just a thought. =)