Home improvements can come in large or small packages. Small things like planting a flower bed or changing the locks are small improvements but improvements never the less. Money doesn’t always dictate the size of home improvements. Changing the flooring in a entire room however does fall into the large home improvement category.
Tiles can be very affordable these days it’s the overall size of the job that makes it a large upgrade or renovation. If you have added any tile to your house then you know what a big job even just a few square feet of new tile can be. There is a lot of planning involved. Things like how the new floor will match up to floor or floors around it? Will I have to paint the walls again and so on? 
Do we need to deal with the sub-floor? Is the floor sturdy enough and solid enough to take a new tile floor? Then there is the overwhelming amount of options and tile choices to pick from. In my experience this is the most demanding part of any plan to add tile to any room and justified by the fact that once it's down it's down and you better be happy with it.
While going through all the tile options one more thing to consider is how you want them laid out. Do you want a pattern of some sort? Do you want a design that carries through the room or do you want it to just break up the basic pattern of grout lines? The more effort that goes into a tile pattern the more time any money it will cost. Small things about designs in tile flooring that you should remember is that they are in place for the life of the floor.
If you are planning to add some decorative pattern where the dinning room table will be then make sure that you plan on leaving the table there forever. Entrance ways are great places for tile patterns. They just seem to lend themselves to small attractive designs, much like area rugs, but a lot easier to clean. A new hardwood floor has fewer concerns about patterns because they generally just lay in one direction or another.
Interior designers will tell you that a tile floor can help make any room look bigger or smaller with certain colours and design patterns. Pin wheel patterns for some reason make the room look huge while a straight box pattern can shrink it down. Anyone looking at adding tile to any room should google, (images) - “tile floors”. There you will find hundreds of images showing tile patterns and designs, some in rooms like the one you're planning.
Magazines are great places to browse for ideas too. It can be much easier on the planning process if you have a direction you’re headed and a look you find appealing. Commercial and public buildings like to add detailed tile work because they have to do something to draw the public away from the boring business that goes on. We all love them but do you really want that in your living room?
Other things that you will want to keep in mind while planning a new tile floor is the surface of the tile. Look at and feel tiles that have different finishes and surface textures. Are you concerned about slipping or rugs sliding out of place? The rug at my back door is always out of place because I picked a tile that was too smooth. I love the look but I have to tape the rug in place because there is not enough room for a rubber underlay with the door swinging in place.
Another important consideration is how the new floor will meet up with the other floor or floors. If you are adding tile to your dining area then we can assume that the floor meets up with the kitchen floor and perhaps the living room floor. Will the colors match okay? Are the two floors the same elevation? If the floors meet and there is only a quarter of an inch or so difference in elevation, then just a transition piece added should be good enough.
If there is a larger elevation difference because of an added sub-floor, then look carefully at step down transitions and check this out very closely. This is a trouble spot that can create trip hazards if you don’t find an acceptable solution. Transitions from tile floors to carpet come often at doorways and this can be dealt with by adding a simple pattern to that area of tile so they blend together better.
Where tile meets hardwood the only concern generally is colour match. The hardwood floor has its pattern from the seams and joints between the boards. They are a straight line for the most part while the grout lines from the tile are broken up at every tile edge, (a box pattern). This can look a little off when the two meet up so look some type of small transition design at the door way or meeting spot of the two floors.
You can buy ready to use tile pattern designs that comes in smaller sections or you can come up with a design that works best for you. The great thing about planning a new tile floor is that you can dry fit hundreds of possible choices before you permanently attach them to the floor. It’s kinda tough to do that with carpet.
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