Here is my layout of my renovation project. The floor will receive 3 1/2" x 11/16" solid maple planks throughout, except for the utility room, mudroom, and bathroom. The joists run top to bottom (north-south 2x10s, 16" OC), but the majority of the subfloor is 1x6 solid planking with 5/8" plywood over it, already. The only area that is 3/4 OSB is about 6' measured from the front door to the bottom of the stairs in the foyer and dining room. Note that the south kitchen wall and north study wall are stagger by about 1'. The dashed lines between the living room and kitchen area are only to delineate the rooms, and are not actual walls.

I was originally planning on running the planks east-west, but I don't know the best place to start, since the planks will have to meet once they go around the center stairway area. I was thinking of starting on the south living room or kitchen wall and working north and south from there, but I was hoping for a second opinion from you guys. Perhaps running the planks at a diagonal would work well here? If a diagonal is chosen, does it matter that the 1x6's under the 5/8" plywood runs from NE to SW?

Thanks!
G

I can do it two ways or more.

Start with a line popped from the living room trough the kitchen, and work both ways, with a spline/slip tongue.

Or you can start in the top left, in the living room, and use a spline/slip tongue to reverse in the kitchen

I would measure and snap the long straightest line possible, then pick wall to start from, (usually the back wall, kitchen living room) ten carefully measure atleast the first three rows off the line you snapped. mke sure you aclimate the wood in your home atleast a week if not two or longer. it will help eliminate 1/16" to sometimes 1/8" variations you could have with moisture in the wood. 1/16" of an inch isn't a lot, unless you take it times say like 16 row and it thorws it off an inch.