The Maple Affair

Before we had decided on almost anything else, Eric and I found out we had a passion for maple flooring and boxed newels. This week we are seeing the results of this romance.
Pieces to three puzzles.

One of three completed puzzle.

We got our flooring from Lumber Liquidators. It was over $1 less a square foot than anywhere. The quality of the wood has been very good so far. If you do order it online and pick it up in store, make sure you pick everything up in one trip or don't sign anything! Skip forgot the 6.5 foot bullnose piece because we forgot to mention it to him. The store accused us of picking it up and lying about it when I called to say we didn't get it. We needed the piece, so Skip went in to buy another "8 foot piece" they just happened to have in stock. (Unfinished maple is all special order.) The guy at the store was nice enough to insist Skip take the (6.5 foot) piece for free...
The flooring is installed over 15# felt paper. They sell a noise reduction underlayment, but since we don't have bedrooms underneath we didn't think it was worth the additional cost.

We went with the 3 1/4 inch wide plank. There are 44 rows across the kitchen and dining room. If we went with the 2 1/4 inch wide board which is more typical for unfinished it would have added 20 rows of time, staples and labor.
One step closer to getting my own room!