The contractor is asking me which way I want the downstairs laminate to go. He tells me "typically it goes the opposite way of the upstairs hardwood". The upstairs hardwood goes N/S.

The majority of the natural light (and there is quite a bit) comes in from windows on the "North" side (I put that in quotes because the diagram is wrong... those are actually south facing windows) and I had previously heard that the boards should go in line with the light. The natural light in the "office" comes in from the west, but it is minimal due to a building shadow anyway so it is mostly artificial light.

I also heard you should line the boards up with the hallway, but we have two perpendicular hallways. However, the one off the stairs is seen FAR more than the other one, which is really just access to a rarely used guestroom and bathroom.

Change of direction isn't really possible as these are click/lock type boards and I don't want to complicate the install.

Would you go N/S or E/W?

Thanks.