I am retiling almost my whole first floor (1,200 SF). I know that for one-bedroom you have to make sure everything is squared, but how do you know where to start when you are doing multiple rooms? (see the attached picture)

 

You want to pick an area with the longest run/view which would be from the foyer to the hall to the living room.

I would work with the hall to get tiles centered and just let everything go from that!

 

I think I would go room by room and treat each room as an individual entity. Take the room most likely to be "viewed" or lived in. Start there. Then as you enter the next room transition accordingly. You don't want to have the tiles such as wood grain go perpendicular to each other as you go into different rooms. However, if a door is at the transition and the tile would look better going in the opposite direction for the next room, then that may be OK.

 

I would go with Mark1 assuming that there is a door at the entry (bottom in diagram) and you see to the far wall of the Living Room.

Then snap a chalk line from the lower entry wall to the Living Room far wall find the center of that chalk line.
Use either the center line of a tile though using where one edge of the tile lends will be easier.
I would lay a few tiles with the spacers you are using so you have a measurement of say what 5 tiles take up.
Then measure each side of it to get an idea where you will end up on all walls and also along it to see where tiles will land vertically in the diagram.

You are shooting for half a tile at all walls so you have something to play with if a wall is out of square.

 

As I look closer I would take your Kitchen T-T and Living room T as one room and starting from the middle or the division between each room layout the flooring and seen where it lands from side to side. Then adjust accordingly and start from the far living room side and work you way into the kitchen. Any possible flaws or slightly off plumb can be "hidden" by the toe kicks and appliances in the kitchen.

Next I would lay some test tiles from the living room into the hall way going into the entry. Then using the entry way as the center see how the tiles layout into each living room area.

Treat the hallway bath and laundry as separate rooms and don't worry about how the tiles fall. Using thresholds across each room will deflect any odd looking problems. You can even treat the hallway from the entry room as a separate entity by using thresholds to separate the boundaries.

Of course all this is just based on your diagram. Maybe a few actual pics of the rooms might help.

 

Yes lay some tiles out to find a pattern you like and go from there.
Do the main area first then if you run into trouble theshholds could save the day.

If you have not already done so look for videos etc. on laying them.
I did a quick look and many places say a 50% offset is a bad idea.
I would also use either string lines or a lazer on a regular basis to ensure that the tiles are laid straight and you are not wandering off.

 

I usually like to start at the beginning! But that's just me. lol Only kidding
Are those the rough tile sizes, rectangular? Or is every room have different size and or patterns?

 

It's a big job for that many square feet by I like starting with a dry layout so I can tweak until I get the look I want.

 

So that is an option, installing threshold pieces across openings so each room is separate vs the entire floor as one big tiled floor!

 

biketrax I usually start from the beginning too but its kind of hard to know where the beginning is. LOL
The tile will be 6x24 wood looking tile.
Thanks, everyone now I have pictured what you are saying Marq1 and manden
And Norm201 doing each room as an individual entity sounds good but in this case, the laundry and bathroom are the individual entities, all of the rest is kind of an open area.

 

That changes the discussion slightly, assumed tile was square so that was why suggestion was to center in the hall so tiles were balanced side to side.

With these tiles, like wood, I assume they are staggered which gives more freedom on how it's laid out .

If your diagram depicts the pattern I would go other direction to break up the long grout lines from foyer to hall to family room!