I'm not sure of the direction to lay the floor in front hall/living room. Hope I can describe this accurately.

Walk in the front door and the hallway is 15 feet (ahead of you) and 10 feet side to side except for the furtherest last 5 ish feet in length which is also 15 feet side to side (kind of like an "L" shape). Living room area is beside that and is 20 feet (direction of the 15 foot hallway) and 30 feet (direction of the 10 feet). Going to put up a wall in between with 6' French doors separating them.

Which direction should the floor be laid? In the hallway, I'd lay the planks long side as I go in and the living room I'd lay them the 30 feet direction ... but of course I realize they need to run the same direction.

Also, would you center the French doors in the middle of the 15 foot hallway or center them in the middle of the 20 foot living room ... same wall but the living room is wider than the hallway

I actually just fired a contractor over this. Haha!

I have always been told the grain of the wood should run with the direction of the light from the main light source in the house. Most of the time, this would be a front window and the back exit door.

In searching online, I found that the direction of the wood should normally be from the front of the house to the back of the house. Most of the time, this would follow the direction of light. Bigger houses may not hold true, just depends on how the house is laid out.

So anyway, if you take my 2 cents on that, you will still need $5 more to get your cup of coffee at Starbucks. Good luck!

I can't advise you on the flooring direction. In my house the flooring lies in the longest direction of my rectangular house -- which is the exact opposite of the light flow. Looks fine to me, and the first area rug laid down will visually break up the "flow" in any case.

Regarding the placement of the French doors. Stand inside your living room and decide where the doors should be placed based upon the best placement of LR furniture. People will spend more time in the LR than the hallway. Any "off balance" perception in the hallway can be visually corrected by placement of art on the wall, light sconces or a credenza.

I am with RathdrumGal, work from the living room to find where to put the doors. You walk through hallways, you spend time in rooms. Furniture placement is important in that room. But If I were looking to center, it would certainly be centered in living room wall.

ding ding ding ... sometimes my brain just doens't function. makes sense for the doors in the living room to be balanced rather than the hallway. Yep, I like traditional.

Usually we laid the hardwood at right angles to the joists,over the subfloor of course..........charlie

Charlie, I don't understand how the junk got scattered everywhere. I had my youngest granddaughter duct taped to the kitchen wall where I thought I could keep an eye on her.

I think it looks best if you run the boards in the longest direction of the space. So in your case, run the boards/pieces from the door towards the back of the house as opposed to side-to-side. Of course there are exceptions.