I had a small 2nd bath in my last home. We laid 16x16 tiles on a diagonal. It definitely made the room appear larger since there were few lines to break up the appearance.

I would do diagonal. We laid the vinyl tile in our kitchen on the diagonal, an alternating light beige and camel pattern, and it visualy expanded the kitchen noticeably.

A diagonal pattern is more active, dynamic, so that's something to think about too. Also, if there isn't going to be a lot of contrast with the grout color, the pattern of the tile isn't going to stand out as much.

squirrelheaven what do you mean by more dynamic?

I forgot to mention that we are using 18X18 tiles. Also, I do have a concern regarding the small hallway between the 2nd bathroom and the dining room. I believe the hall is approx. 40". The tile when laid on the diagonal is 25" across. Won't this look choppy when he has to do this area?

Thanks for the input everyone, keep in coming.

If you pull up the sites of the grand palaces across Europe you will see that the diagonal layout is most widely used.

It leads the eye "on" and gives the floor more interest, which is what I think was meant by "dynamic". Whenever I lay out a painted floor or a floorcloth I ALWAYS use the diagonal pattern.

Things on the diagonal have a more sweeping stroke, it creates movement. So, dynamic meanng an active pattern. Horizontal is restful. Vertical creates more height and brings a monumental feel to things. That sort of thing.

Originally I was going to do a diagonal in my bathroom, because I enjoy the pattern and it's a small bath. At the last minute though, I decided on squares because I'm after a restful feel.

Draw a 40" hall to scale and then place your tile to see how the side pieces will lay out. You may want to do a border to break the side tiles nicely on point. It looks like you may have about 7" to each side, allowing for 1/4" grout lines, with a 25" diag tiles. So with a 1/2" baseboard on each side of the hall, maybe a 1/2" round trim piece would allow for a 6" border tile? Something like that :)

I'm so confused. It would be much easier if we were there that's for sure.

Yes, doing a remodel long distance is hard, but this is a fairly easy decision to make because, in the end, it really won't matter. The tile will look nice either way.

We did not do a diagonal pattern in our bathroom remodel and I regretted it.

We just remodeled and put tile in 3 areas. The two smaller baths have tile set on the diagonal (13" tiles) and the look is great. For the large area of kitchen flowing into entry into laundry and powder room, it was set straight. I figured with a large area, you're not always looking at a room straight on and depending on your vantage point you get a diagonal. I also like the look of the straight set tile.

In our situation, it cost more to have tile set on diagonal because of extra labor and tile.

For us, the bigger tile issue was the workmanship and getting the floors as level as possible before the work was done. We had to do quite a bit of sub-floor work (about 1 and 1/2 day labor). Then, the tile layers must have mixed up grout wrong in 1 bath because we had lots of grout cracking there within a few days (they called it faulty grout-didn't fool me). That job needed to be redone.

Be sure you know the quality of work that the tile layers do. Ideally, someone should be there to oversee their work. I know from others who have remodeled that tile has sometimes needed to be redone or become a source of conflict over quality of work.

The 18 x 18 will not look choppy at all. I say "go for it".

As mentioned, it may cost a little more because of the intricate cuts. It's well worth it.

How about doing both? We will be having an expanse of tile in our condo and plan on doing an octagon inset similar to this inspiration pic.

I think you just need to look at some magazines, kitchen & bath usually shows quite a bit of diagonal work. See how you like the look. Compare effects, and note the sizes of tile used and the degree of contrast there is with the grout (which enhances the pattern -- busier).

I would call a diagonal set busier than a grid because it has movement, although a low contrast grout would subdue that and be more subtle. Larger tile would also create a more open, subdued pattern.

Are you flipping this and want to save on tile? If so, I think you would be wrong not to do it on the diagonal. Most people feel as do I that large diagonal tiles make a small room look larger and you are trying to impact potential buyers.

Sorry, I read it wrong. You are keeping the condo as a retreat and just want to update? I apologize. I misread. Anyway, it will look better on the diagonal regardless.

LOL Patricia! Thanks for the response. Actually DH is in joint ownership with his brother who most certainly does want to sell. DH would like to keep it so I figure we should renovate in a way that would make us happy to live in it should we not be able to sell. Condos in this development have not been selling very well I might add.

Anyway, I think we will be starting the tiling job on Monday and we will be using the tiles on a diagonal.