At long last, completion

Well, not in the sense that it's "all done" but for all intents and purposes (as well as intensive purposes), the floor, she is down. A few choice shots:

There is still work to be done. The last few boards in the dining room by the back door have to go in, one more row in the hallway that will have to be ripped on the table saw, the rest of the trim work around the stairs, and the quarter round trim (which I haven't even purchased yet) around the entire perimeter.

In all, it was both a rewarding and exhausting experience. Would I do it again? Maybe in a smaller room that is square. The intensive lay down lasted four days, mainly due to the measuring and cutting and adjusting I did around the stairs. But I took my time and I think it shows.

The most amazing part of this job was, despite my wavering walls and my typical inability to get things just right, my boards were perfectly straight all the way across. I varied between 1/4" and 1/8" all the way down the far wall, which I could clearly see was not straight. The house ain't plumb, but my floor sure is, and that is truly amazing to me. Our only problem now is a battle between dark flooring and little white dog hairs. I plan on purchasing stock in the company that makes Swiffer.

This concludes the flooring interlude. Now back to regular programming. I'll get a shot of the garden soon, now encased within chicken wire walls and thriving.