OWWWW... geesh. Perhaps I should clarify the situation. I know that wood floors have gaps and I do remember the expansion thing from elementary science. These are not the normal size gaps we are talking about. My house is old and we have heart pine floors in EVERY room, so I know the "normal rang of sizes the gaps are supposed to be. These gaps look like the boards moved or something over the last 75 years. It's not a pain to vacuum them with my Swiffer vacuum, it's the wet stuff that's gross (for a prime example...baby barf, using a butter knife and a burp cloth to get it out is just not my cup of tea). Anyway, back to the point. These gaps are too big to just be the "seasonal type gaps", 2 of them are almost 1/2 inch wide. So, I really would not committ a sin by covering the origianl heart pine floor with linolium, so if anyone has any other suggestion, I would like to hear them. Thanks in advance. Darlynn

If your walls are still open, you can avoid an air gap in the countertop all together by installing a devise known as a "Johnson T" or sometimes "Johnson Tee". It's essentially an air gap that is vented through the wall above or near the dishwasher. The one in my house is vented through the outside wall, so it's not seen in the kitchen at all. All that's seen on the exterior wall is a round disk, about 2" in diameter. The disk can be painted, so it becomes practically invisible. I've also seen them vented through the inside wall in the backsplash, but in those cases, the vent cover is usually are about an inch in diameter and has a more decorative chrome or other metal finish. The big advantage of having the vent on the wall, rather than on the countertop, is that it's one less thing to have to work around when you're wiping up the counters.

Wow,you put a lot of sweat into striping. There is no silver bullet for what you are asking. It takes years of trial and error to develope ability to make 3 different species of wood look good togeather. That bears repeating "LOOK GOOD TOGEATHER". Too often people attempt to match when it's just not possible. There are 3 ways to approch it,#1 hire a pro #2 aquire a color wheel and study the art of working with color until you unddrstand useing the wheel. #3 Choose a system from those offered within a brand and stay with it from start to finish. Min-Wax is destained by pros but I feel it has it's place amoung novice wood finishers so that's the one i will talk about as illustratin only. Within one of thier systems there is a wood conditioner that prevents uneven stain penitration on among other wood,pine. It works if directions on can are followed but many fail because they wait too long between conditioner and stain. That means you can not condition all the pine shown before starting to stain unless 3 or 4 people work on it. Do a section of conditioner then stain it before doing another section. Needless to say, quility of result deminishes as you go from option #1 to #2 to #3 but a dedicated #2 can often do a better job than many #1s.

Ajsmama: The door pics look really nice, with a smooth look. I learned from mostly Minwax literature and some forums that I'll need pre-stain treatment to solve the grain/absorption problem with woods like pine. Then I was just going to stain, and with a final coat of poly. I wasn't sure where sanding would come into the picture, probably just sanding off the dusts/specs that got trapped in the poly. I am not even sure what I can do with the raised grain with a water based paint/stain. The raised grain on the trim (after being painted with glossy latex paint) was just about impossible to sand down. I suppose it's not terrible being trims, but for doors that may just make enough difference to matter. I am using a 150 grit paper. I was thinking of using small foam rollers to apply the poly, if not the stain, for an even finish. However, that's just a thought in theory: in testing on sample drywall/wood blocks, smoothest finish with anything water based paint/finish could be achieved with those high density foam rollers, much more easily than brushes. Of course, these are the plans from someone who has no experience and learned from very scattered materials. I see here that there's a 4th step before coating with poly, to "use shellac as a sanding sealer". I'm not sure how that works, how to apply (I imagine coating and sanding, assuming shellac is a softer material than poly to sand down for a smoother finish?), or what exactly shellac is. I'm just that far off the curve here. :P Magnaverde: I just learned how oil based may achieve a superior finish. I asked around in the store and nobody could tell me the difference between oil and water based other than that water dries faster and doesn't smell. That made it an easy choice, as it is getting pretty cold here and opening window to vent VOC will be tough. Given that, I'm wondering now how difficult will it be to sand down the grain if I use water based stain/paint, to achieve a similar result to oil based paint/varnish/stain? Also if done properly (with pre-stain treament and all), is staining the pine with those grains acceptable, and in what color/finish? I suppose "naked door" with poly is nobody's cup of tea here. :) I'm not sure if a sketch of the room's dimensions will help visualizing the door better than a picture of one corner. Here it is: As you can see the apt has a very odd layout that cannot be salvaged easily. The door in question is the one to the top, next to the window/mock sofa. Most of the furniture are in maple/natural/pine color, as they were modular and simply carried over from the apartment rental days (new furniture may be in order). I haven't sketched up the trims though, but they are 4" base trims with 3.5" door casing, the largest I could get without going to the lumber yard for some much fancier versions. The trims and casing are painted in benjamin moore's "superwhite" in glossy finish. The front door (right hand side) at the end of the corridor is finished in white. The closet (center of the apt) has a bifold pine door that will be finished the same as the bathroom door. I'd appreciate any ideas/opinions with the door finish, again. I'm thankful of all the help here. This is so much more than I imagined I'd get in return to my question, which was originally thought to be as simple as a door knob finish. :) The question with the door had always been a bit nebulous to me, and it's just now began to clear up. Thanks guys.