If you have the room, I think it would be nice to have a separate little entry area - and perhaps better for wet, slushy, muddy feet to be on tile than on the laminate? Perhaps you can enlarge the entry area a bit as long as you are re-doing the whole floor, too. Perhaps tape newspaper or paper grocery bags together to create a different size or shape of entry space.

Would it be possible to use the same tile as you are going to use in the bath? This space could be good practice for that one! And you would be buying tile by the box, in case of mistakes or damage as you work.

Have you thought about which way you are going to lay the laminate? You might consider it on a diagonal, which would widen the LR and hallway visually.

This is similar to my parents home but they have more like a 4x4 area of entry. I would put the laminate everywhere. A new entry rug can become the 'entry' to protect the laminate from slush.

I would put laminate throughout and use a washable rug at the front door.

Definitely laminate everywhere. I hate the look of a room randomly chopped up like that. If you had architecture to support it I could see perhaps different flooring but IMO it does nothing for a room to have a patch of different flooring hanging out by itself.

I live in the triangle area of NC, so slush is not much of a problem - LOL! Neither is rain right now since we are under a severe drought! Didn't mention it, but I live alone, so most of the time it's just me coming in and out, and if my shoes are yucky I take them off before coming in the house.

I was considering a pretty tile in the "foyer" area, I just wasn't sure with the room being so small that just the laminate might make it look bigger. Even though it's approx 20 ft wide, the first 3-4 feet actually works like a hallway (door is in the bottom left corner of the rectangle an dyou keep walking straight til you hit the actual hallwasy to the Br's), so the actual LR part is just 14X16.

I have considered laying the laminate on the diagonal. but it all depends on what flooring I end up picking. Diagonal requires more material, and if I go w/ the Shaw Brazilian Teak laminate (South Pacific collection) I am considering, the price might be too high (gotta keep this as inexpensive as possible!). Also, there is an arch in the top long wall to the kitchen (will be putting new vinyl in there soon), so I will have to decide how those two would look together. I was considering running the laminate in the kitchen, too, but I have pretty much been talked out of that because my washer/dryer is in the kitchen.

I am doing the installation myself to help save on the cost (have laid laminate before on mission trips). If I have to pay, I would be limited to either cheap laminate or low grade carpet like I currently have.

Here is a link that might be useful: Shaw Brazilian Teak laminate (not quite as dark in person)

You don't say where you live--but if you live in the north, and this is your main entry, I think I would do a tile area (possibly bigger than the current 3x3).

If wet, dirty shoes aren't a major concern 6 months of the year--I would do all laminate and an entry rug.

Having a front door that opens directly into the LR myself, here are a few things to thing about....

You say that you can see "a pretty tile" in the (faux) foyer area... would your choice in color or style limit how you would decorate the room? Will you see the tile in the foyer and the (future) tile in the kitchen at the same time? If they are different would this bother you? Would you like the same in both places?

How is your room arranged? Would putting down a section of foyer tile limit furniture placement? You would want the space large enough to make sense... meaning at least as deep or deeper than the open door and wide enough for 2 folks to come in at the same time and stand in the area while wiping feet or shucking shoes.

Nothing looks more like an afterthought than a tiled foyer area that is too small to really serve the purpose! LOL!

Also be aware that there may be slight changes of level between the thickness of the laminate and the thinner vinyl. Don't want to be tripping thru the door! This can be dealt w/... you just need to be ready to deal w/ it.

IMHO you should go w/ the entire area in the laminate... but that's mostly because our entry and LR is all wood and I have defined the area w/ a runner from the door to the kitchen opposite and a seperate area rug in the LR area.

Syllabus,

Yes, you can see the kitchen floor right when you open the door. As long as the colors blended, the foyer and kithcen floor being different wouldn't bother me because they are different right now (both vinyl, just different patterns).

The current foyer area is just slighty bigger that the door swing when it opens and is in the very corner of the room, so whatever I would do would not affect any furniture placement.

I was considering the runner down the hall but I didn;t know if it should go directly from the front door all the way down or if I would ahve a small rug right at the door and start the runner a little ways down. Also, I wan't sure about the left-hand turn in the hallway to the bedrooms (the top of the "7"). Would I stop the runner prior to the turn? If I went from the front door to here, that would require a runner about 16-17 ft long. Should I have a second runner down the turn (which is only about 4-5 ft long)? If it matters, right at that turn, to the right is a second doorway into the kitchen (so you don't have to walk from the bedrooms around the corner into the LR to get to the kitchen).

Strait: that's a really loooong distance to use a runner on! Rather than have that airstrip runway look, I'd say just do a nice size area rug at the door if you go for the full laminate.

And something else to think about: if you do full laminate, you could go back later and replace a portion w/ either real tile or the vinyl. It would be easier to do that than do the tile/vinyl first and decide later that you'd rather have the entire room laminate!

A friend of mine has the same situation - she recently had a carpenter make a 1/2 wall segregating the LR/Foyer - they did make a simple colum from the 1/2 wall to the ceiling - A simple solution that looks nice and works well -

If you do choose to segregate - I would choose a nice tile, porcelain perhaps

If not, I would opt for a seamless application of the laminate

good luck

Bumping this up to say that I was wrong on my measurements. I was trying to go from memory; apparently the memory isn't what it used to be - LOL! The room is only 12X17, not 14X20. So, I have decided to just do all laminate, although what kind I haven't decided on yet.

I did consider doing the little half wall w/ column, but after staring at the area and imagining it, I said no. The LR is too small as it is, and that would close it in even more. Besides, I would rather put that kind of money to either a flat TV to mount on the wall or replacement sofa (apartment size) or loveseat to free up some space.

Thanks for all the advice!!!

Straitlover,
I'm glad that you are going with laminate all the way, I think that it will look better. Also, had you gone with tile, you would have needed a transition piece between the 2 spots - which at least in our house is more prone to wear and tear. It's also easier to trip on it.

We have a higher end Pergo laminate, and it's more resistant than you would think to very occasional moisture.

Good luck.

Have you considered the wood look vinyl that Oceanna and Teeda have- it looks so real. It may be easier to lay than laminate, althought I don't really know and it could be used in both your kitchen and living room as well as work as an entrance floor when it is rainy and muddy. I think it is called Novalis or something similar. Check it out when you look at laminate.

Sky