There is no rule. It depends on what you are trying to draw attention to and how you play with the lines and how the brain sees distance. Architects will sometimes specify flooring layouts on their drawings so that lines call attention to what they want to call attention to.

Below, even though the two rectangles are exactly the same size, most people will say the one on the right looks longer. It's a deception of the eye. To make a room appear longer than it is, lay the tile in the direction of the room. Exaggerating the obvious and / or most desirable part of the room is one way to work in harmony with the room's natural assets.

The lines in the tile will draw your eye in whatever direction it goes. In a long narrow room, if you lay the tile across the short part and up one of the adjoining walls it will making the lines longer this way than the length of the room. This would make the room look wider if the total length of the lines were longer than the longest measurement of the room.

It is gorgeous! You did a great job!!!

Thank you all very much!!!! To susan1905, I'm sorry but I have no info about wood looking porcelain tiles in Melbourne..

What brand and color tiles did you use?

Hi, hadarazon, our bathroom has the exact some layout, and this is the exact same floor tiles I have chosen. (I got them from Home Depot) Just wondering what fixtures and tiles (over bathtub) you will be using. I am debating between pedestal sink and vanity cabinet....

We just had ours put in and we went with them installed at a slant and they are gorgeous. This is what everyone likes most about the room. may not be authentic but if you want 'stunning" then definitely put them at a slant. here's a link with them partially done in the curbless shower area -
http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=134754&stc=1&d=1356118514

We bought the tile at Floor&Decor. I can't find the brand name at this moment, but I remember the color is pecan. I love the tiles because that have that distressed look. For the bathtub (and master shower) walls we are using white subway tiles with the same grout color as the floors (#577 chestnut). For vanities we wanted something different with more character, the cart (couldn't find a better name for it..) we are using at the guest bathroom + wall mount faucet we bought at Target online ($125 including 3 days shipment) to give it more of an industrial look. For the master bath we bought an antique dresser to give it more of a romantic/country look, the sink is from Ikea ... Hope that helped :)

Here are some more photos

Wow!! It is SO SO beautiful! I LOVE the antique dresser and subway tiles. I would love to have this same look. Where did you get this antique dresser? Do you have to cut the sink hole yourself? That is such a good idea. So beautiful.

I am on a tight budget; after searching everywhere, this french-style vanity is the best I can come up with:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/203704186?productId=203704186&storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&MERCH=REC-_-product-6-_-203704176-_-203704186-_-N#.UUZbaVfhdMo

For $549, you get the vanity AND the marble top AND free shipping. I am planning to paint it white myself, but my husband thinks it is a crazy idea. LOL. With this vanity, I am planning to put an antique-looking mirror over it. I am wondering what do you all think? Thank you so much for all your feedback.

Hadarazon, please post more pictures when it is finished. I can't wait to see it! Thanks.

elphaba, I was just looking at that type drain. Was it hard to install?

Thank you! We are on a very tight budget as well... I bought the dresser at one of the antique malls here in AZ for $225 and the sink for $170. I LOVE the vanity you found! I also searched for console tables to make it a vanity, there some very nice furnitures on Walmart online, we didn't have the time to wait for it to arrive tough.. I will post pictures as soon as we get it done (soon I hope!)

Littleonestep you can find cheap dressers at thrift stores or goodwill, you just have to have the patience to look. You will have to have some one cut the holes in the top for your sink and drain.

when using a piece of furniture, really give it a tough look to see if it's appropriate for your needs.
The people we bought our house from last year redid the master and guest bath for more than many houses cost. The result? Looks great - but is soooo incredibly inefficient. Huge bathrooms - no storage. Can't put up towel bars into marbled walls (so where do you put them). And the gorgeous pieces of furniture they topped with onyx and made into vanities? There are no shelves inside and can't put any due to the plumbing. Truthfully, the crappy one we had in our tiny masterbath that probably cost $10,000 for the whole thing worked better. You need a place to have medicine, shampoos, etc and should make sure there is enough storage. Otherwise, it will drive you mad for years...

I agree with calkelley and can imagine how frustrating it must be to have purely decorative pieces. However, I have used furniture pieces in my bathrooms but I also have tall cabinets for storage in those bathrooms, as well as the storage in the consoles and the medicine cabinets. Like any good plan you have to take in to consideration your needs and plan for them.

Horizontal gives a more modern look. Depends if you want the room to look modern (horizontal) or traditional (vertical). Have fun, and post some after Pics, Dani

Marie Steward - our bathroom was not DIY. I searched quite a bit for a contractor. Many/most seemed not to have a clue about the curbless shower and tried to talk me out of it. As far as the linear drain, I don't know if it was difficult but the contractor I finally settled on mainly because he could explain everything and didn't seem to want to talk me out of it- he was very expensive for the whole project. I think the linear drain itself was $1000. But the real issues were mainly regarding the need to modify joists (our house is pier and beam) so that shower floor would slant toward the drain. I'm extremely pleased but I think I took a risk - I could have been unlucky and got a contractor who didn't know what he was doing - easy to do since I'm convinced bathroom projects are the hardest - much harder than kitchens - so many things to consider and I wanted ADA functioinality too - I am SOOO lucky because I am SOOO pleased.

Here is the tile name, brand and price http://www.flooranddecoroutlets.com/anticho-pecan-porcelain-plank-6in-x-24in.html

susan 1905
Try RocksOn "Savia" email - sales@rockson.com.au
I'm also looking for Woodgrain tiles in Australia.
I have only seen these tiles online but I love them.
They have a Sydney & Brisbane Office.
www.rockson.com.au

If you want your ceilings to feel like they are taller - higher, then install tiles on the vertical,
if it is better to make your room feel wider, then install then on the horizontal.

Thank you for the drain info. My better half wasn't keen on the idea because he would have to do it. Thanks for the link to the tile.

Hi.. Since you all had amazing advices, I have another question..
Looking at the glass, you can see the right and left side are not even, is that because of the way subway tile pattern? Should I have them change it?
Thanks

Not even? In what way? Are you talking about how the tile pieces are trimmed to size at either end of the window? I don't see any problem with it, and can assure you that you won't notice it once you start using the shower. It's a lovely project, I'm looking forward to seeing finished photos.

I agree with Vicki smith

Victoria and aniluap, that's what I meant. Thank you!

Susan1905 and Jow1 - A company called Quick Step make a very nice laminate timber floor tile called Exquisa

http://www.quick-step.com.au/laminate/exquisa/ceramic-white?id=Flooring_FloorAggregate/005_428760.

Or phone them on 03 9798 0808. There are two profiles to choose from. I am interested in them after seeing samples but I didn't get price.

If you were thinking of the timber look floor tiles, which are quite long planks and are absolutely beautiful, I have seen them at Harvey Norman in Sydney for $97 sq m. I think there were only about 3 colour choices - maybe 4, but all were really nice.

We picked the same floor tile in grey and ran it toward the tub to make the room look longer. We ran the subway tiles vertically and used a varied sized stone/glass mini subway accent.

Thank you Janet! This is beautiful!

I will be tiling my shower/tub enclosure with subway tiles just like you did and my bathroom looks almost the same dimentions as your. My shower area even has a window just the one in the picture. Would you mind telling me how many boxes of these subway tiles you have to use just in the shower area? I'm in Louisvile, KY, USA.Thanks

Oh, I'm sorry, I don't remember anymore. We went all the way to the ceiling, which you don't have to do. I would measure the wall sq ft. and look up how much the box covers (and add a bit). We used a little bigger subways (4x8)

I would love to see a picture of the final product ;D

just click on a picture, this help us a lot on choosing colors

I'm not able to see much of the floor tile in my picture, so here is a better one. It's the same wood grain look in gray. The lighting and space is not ideal for a great pic...

I agree that horizontal looks so much better and more modern and will make the space feel wider.

if you go long ( with the length of the room) you will have less cuts and it will resemble wood more than tile.

We ar almost done! I wanted to share my thoughts about the blue I chose, not sure I', liking it... I was very inspired by one of the houses I saw here on Houzz (here is a link https://www.houzz.com/magazine/my-houzz-devotion-shows-in-a-19th-century-belgian-home-stsetivw-vs~5247616)
I love the color palette and decided to have the same colors (maybe less pink...)
So we painted the beadboard in our bathroom blue, and the light fixtures red (planing to add some mint accessories)
I feel like this blue is so overwhelming and "in your face", should I change it to a pale blue?...
Thanks!

Photos

I think it is too light blue if you add the mint color.......it may need to be more cobalt?

I wish.. I love mint, but my hubby just doesn't like the "hospital color".... So we are compromising..

lol

It's difficult to comment on a color..if you like it, stay with it ,,if you are not sure.,..try something else. To me, it seems too pastel and I am not sure how well it goes with the rest of the bathroom. The faucet seems to be on the modern side...Paint a few papers in the shades that you like and see which one you like best.

The inspiration picture is mostly white with small pops of color. Definitely paint the beadboard white if you want a hint of blue I would paint the wall the lightest shade of blue on the color chart( basically white with a hint of blue) .it will read more blue against the white beadboard or you can go all white and bring in color with your accessories. Like towels, soap dish etc,

Blue is a hard color, it almost always looks more blue on the wall than on the paint chart.
can you buy sample jars of the paint? I was thinking maybe more gray in the blue, more blue gray than gray blue... Also your lighting changes color dramatically too. and so does each of our monitors, so what we are each seeing, may be off from what YOU see in the room

Years ago before we could do the color matching with computers, I bought the lightest blue they had and then mixed is 1/2 and 1/2 with white and everyone thought it was white when we were painting, but it dried the exact right color.

Lynne is right you always want to go lighter than the color you ultimately want since it as lays a little darker when dry and the walls reflect of each other making it appear darker.

I finally found the perfect gold yellow for my house as we were selling it! Put it up on the walls with all white trim of French doors and molding.
Waaayyyy too deep a color!!! It might have been better with furniture but probably not.
I guess I'm glad I did not have to live with it. It was nice and very sophisticated but too deep for me.
Learned my lesson for the next house when we moved in. Found a light creamy golden yellow, reduced the color by half and it looks great! But I want the colors to fade into the background and let the furniture shine.
the lighter, the better in my book. It does darken

Here are some color samples

On my screen the colors are hard to tell really, I think the background color is interferring with the tru colors, the middle one looks light pink to me. the right side looks more gray, the left looks like a lighter shade of the wall... is that what they REALLY look like? sorry, I can't judge anything well enough to say. Hopefully others can

Took a while.. But here's the end results.. :)

Oh that looks wonderful! Did it turn out the way YOU expected?

Horizontal or vertical bathroom wall tiles