IMO vertical would look the best!

Our house is wide so we went horizontal from the front door but in your case I would go vertical so it runs straight up that hallway and straight to those back windows vertical with the kitchen island. Ours go vertical with our kitchen island and it looks great.

With a long and narrow space like a townhouse, I like to see the planks run from the front of the house to the back of the house (long edge of the plank runs the long length of the house).

This makes installing the transition strips in the doorways MUCH easier as well (and few cuts means less waste).

I agree - front to the back. However, this might be a bit tricky for the flooring professional if your house isn't quite square. (been there...done that!)

Sammie J this is what I think my husband is afraid of, he wants to install it the other way because of it not being square, he's very handy and I have no doubt he'll do a great job. It will be floating. All the homes were run horizontally here when built, and Im just not quite sure why they did it that way.

Don’t do the direction you pictured. I agree with cd7733 and SJ McCarthy. You want the planks in as long lengths as you can. For the continuity through the apartment, and cause the long lengths will make your apartment look better. When you are wearing a striped dress or top, which looks better - horizontal stripes across your body, or longer stripes up and down?

I really like the mock ups that have the planks lengthwise, flowing toward the window/fireplace or toward the kitchen.

SJ McCarthy, we weren’t going to have transitional strips? It would continue in same direction in each room.

Definitely long way from the pictures, we don't have any transition strips either going into our bedroom.

@ Wise - is this a floating or a glue down install?

Parallel to the island. I wouldn't even consider running it the other way.

SJ McCarthy, floating LVP. We took up 1,400 Sq ft over glued down engineered and some ceramic tile.

In our professional opinion. They must always go the direction of the length of the room. This makes the space look bigger and adds flow.

Floating floors have 'length' maximums and 'width' maximums. That means t-moldings will need to be used at some point. Usually those points are in doorways. They can also be found at 'pinch points' like at the end of a narrow hallway BEFORE it enters into a larger space (like a great room attached to a kitchen).

Please read your installation instruction of the product you have chosen. It will tell you the maximum runs (length and width) of your flooring. Some are as little as 30 linear feet (lengthwise) and others are as much as 50 linear feet (lengthwise).

Go ahead and measure the entire length of your townhouse (front to back and side to side). You will get a VERY GOOD idea as to whether or not you are allowed (by the manufacturer) to install a continuous floor (no t-moldings).

In general floating floors do NOT like to be installed AROUND a centre pillar like yours (in a doughnut shape with the centre being taken up by the kitchen). It is usually a VERY BAD idea to have a countinuous floating floor (everything connected to each other) in a circle like that.

Only glue down or permanent floors get to do that sort of stuff (like porcelain tiles or glue down hardwoods).

Be VERY AWARE of the limitations of YOUR HOME and YOUR FLOORING CHOICE.

SJ McCarthy, the flooring instillation instructions don’t say anything about this. I was told by the people we are buying it from that there is no maximum run for this vinyl and there could be trouble with click down wood floors and floors that get direct sunlight. The reason my husband doesn’t want to run vertically is because he says you will notice how uneven some of the walls are and think it will look odd.

For get about esthetics, function is more important. LVP still expands. Minimize width expansion by keeping the run short. Floors more often buckle along the width. You want to run the floor boards lengthwise. It will look good and function properly.

Shoe molding!!!!!

For covering gaps between the bottom of the baseboard and the floor.

shirlpp, of course we will hav shoe molding, Im not concerned about covering a gab as I as have thin strips run vertically along the walls.