So they came and sanded the floors yesterday. It took all day–about nine hours to:

Sand off the old linoleum in the dining room

Sand down the rest of the floor to bare wood. They had to do under the fireplace by hand so picture 1 is the main part of the floor sanded, before they started on the hand-sanding of the edges and the fireplace.

Spread wood filler over the whole floor to fill in the gaps and the nail and staple holes.

Do a final sanding to make the whole floor perfectly smooth.

Vaccuum up all of the dust and debris. Picture 2 is one of three bags of dust they removed from the floor.

Lay out the first coat of varnish. We chose a natural finish for the floor because the color of the wood is amazing–and it brightens the whole house. The third picture shows the living room/dining room after the first day of work with one coat of varnish.