I would tend to agree that wide planks across the direction of traffic would't necessarily make it appear wider. It would probably get your eye to focus on the joints versus being taken along to the next space. If you can live with the size of the boards, would it be possible to refinish what is there with a new stain colour? You might be able to tone down the floor a bit and use some art on that long wall to draw you into the space.

Hi, We also break up a long hallway with zones, and often do it with the ceiling and shallow nib walls / feature recesses. You have the width to do a few things. When the hallway is straight we create short length dropped bulkheads and 'frame' areas that lead into specific locations... eg the entry can have a small dropped bulkhead at the end of it that feeds into a feature protruding wall combined with a different ceiling height. That wall might sit out by a couple of hundred mm and that allows anything from a series of recessed boxes (shelf like) to a feature frame for large artwork. We also change ceiling heights through sections to zone off eg the living end vs the bedroom end or place features such as light wells in them. Cheers

I would go for the spotted gum option to create flow between indoor and outdoor, the social areas of the house. So when you have the doors open, there is a sense of continuity and the spaces feel generous. Monia

I some how missed a whole lot of this discussion, it's all coming together beautifully, @kiwimills thank you so much for your lovely comment, if you only knew what an effort it was to get that art work hung, divorce material, he did a great job but after much loud discussion I still ended up with the large hanging not lining up with the bottom of the other frames. I always find that dark spaces work well with darker colours