Setting out a room properly
We set the pattern from the room's main sightline — usually the door you enter through or the longest wall — not from whichever wall is nearest square. In older Fife properties no two walls are parallel, so the pattern is centred and the discrepancy absorbed in the border, where the eye does not read it.
A border or a double-block frame around the perimeter is not just decorative; it is how a herringbone floor meets an out-of-square wall without looking wrong.
Solid blocks vs engineered herringbone
Solid oak blocks are bonded straight to a prepared subfloor, sanded flat in place and then finished. That gives a seamless, genuinely traditional floor, and it is the only way to match into existing period parquet. It takes longer and costs more.
Engineered herringbone arrives pre-finished, is dimensionally stable, works over underfloor heating and can be fitted and walked on far sooner. For most modern Fife homes it is the sensible choice.