Floored!
(Thanks, Annie, for the reminder to show the changes.)
The project, as most home improvement projects do, ended up costing at least twice as much in time and money than originally expected, but it was well worth it. We still have a few finishing touches to do, but it looks great, and I am very very happy. This was the one change that I felt like I needed to have taken care of NOW, and then I could be content with waiting indefinitely on all of the rest of the things we wanted to change in our house. We had these superfine white carpets in the living and dining room that were absolutely impossible to keep looking decent. Anyway, I'll just show you....

Before we bought the house:




During the process:

We were dismayed to find the linoleum glued to the floors, which multiplied the work exponentially. Amelia and I went to Olympia for a couple of days to stay out of the dust and fumes.



After:



Thank you Jeff!!! I love the color, and although you can't see it in the pictures, the wood has a very pretty pattern-- we think it might be tiger maple. I am still sometimes surprised to see these beautiful floors in place of those dirty carpets when I walk into a room. I haven't shown pictures of these rooms before, since I haven't gotten to the point that I felt like they were ready, but we're suddenly much closer!