Does a 45 degree layout hide do much to hide the fact that a room (really 2 rooms with most of the wall removed between them) is not square?

I am afraid the "unsquareness" might be accented by additional straight-line references such as cabinet bases.

In your humble opinions, how might this look when butted up to a floor of the same wood in the next room laid out parallel to it's long wall (where the 45 degree ends and the parallel ends would butt up to each other in a 6-foot wide doorway.

Would it look better with a contrasting wood as a threshold in the doorway?

I'm trying to visualize this before I make a multi-$1000 mistake.

Dale C

Dale,
Having the floor laid at a 45 will most definitely hide the out of square and paralell walls. Keep in mind that many walls in homes are off a little bit and that will not cause problems. It's when they are 1"+ off in a short span that one starts to notice. You can always "split the difference". Say your walls are 1" wider at one than the other end. Simply split the 1" difference between the two walls, making them off by 1/2" on each side. Hard to notice 1/2" off, especially if using plank. With strip, it is a little more noticeable. I think your idea of laying at a 45 sounds good though; and it doesn't matter if another room is done paralell to the walls. The idea is to make it look like you planned it that way from the beginning. You don't need to install a threshold of a different wood species. I'd use the same wood so as not to draw too much attention to the threshold. You can always "dry lay" the wood prior to nailing/gluing so as to get a better idea how it will look before committing to the 45 look.