diff --git a/bristlecode.rb b/bristlecode.rb
index 34670a7..e734e6c 100644
--- a/bristlecode.rb
+++ b/bristlecode.rb
@@ -15,11 +15,11 @@ module Bristlecode
 
     rule(:bold_open) { str('[b]') | str('[B]') }
     rule(:bold_close) { str('[/b]') | str('[/B]') | eof }
-    rule(:bold) { bold_open >> children.as(:bold) >> bold_close }
+    rule(:bold) { bold_open >> children.as(:bold) >> bold_close >> space? }
 
     rule(:italic_open) { str('[i]') | str('[I]') }
     rule(:italic_close) { str('[/i]') | str('[/I]') | eof }
-    rule(:italic) { italic_open >> children.as(:italic) >> italic_close }
+    rule(:italic) { italic_open >> children.as(:italic) >> italic_close >> space? }
 
     rule(:eof) { any.absent? }
     rule(:tag) { bold | italic }
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@ module Bristlecode
     rule(:tag_delim) { tag_open | tag_close }
 
     rule(:text) { (tag_delim.absent? >> any).repeat(1).as(:text) }
-    rule(:children) { space? >> elem.repeat }
-    rule(:doc) { space? >> elem.repeat.as(:doc) }
+    rule(:children) { space? >> elem.repeat >> space? }
+    rule(:doc) { space? >> elem.repeat.as(:doc) >> space? }
     root(:doc)
   end
 
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ module Bristlecode
 
   class Text
     def initialize(text)
-      @text = text
+      @text = text.to_str.strip
     end
 
     def to_html
diff --git a/spec/bristlecode/parser_spec.rb b/spec/bristlecode/parser_spec.rb
index 2317ea4..0ddccc9 100644
--- a/spec/bristlecode/parser_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/bristlecode/parser_spec.rb
@@ -2,6 +2,51 @@ require 'parslet/rig/rspec'
 require_relative '../../bristlecode.rb'
 
 module Bristlecode
+
+  describe '.to_html' do
+
+    def to_html(text)
+      Bristlecode.to_html(text)
+    end
+
+    it 'leaves an empty string unchanged' do
+      expect(to_html("")).to eq("")
+    end
+
+    it 'handles empty documents' do
+      expect(to_html("      \t   \n    \n     \t")).to eq("")
+    end
+
+    it 'handles plain text just fine' do
+      expect(to_html("plaintext")).to eq("plaintext")
+    end
+
+    it 'can bold stuff' do
+      expect(to_html("[b]bold[/b]")).to eq("<b>bold</b>")
+    end
+
+    it 'can italic stuff' do
+      expect(to_html("[i]italic[/i]")).to eq("<i>italic</i>")
+    end
+
+    it 'can nest tags' do
+      doc = '[b] bold [i] italic [/i] bold [/b]'
+      expected = '<b>bold<i>italic</i>bold</b>'
+      out = to_html(doc)
+      expect(out).to eq(expected)
+
+      doc = '[i] italic [b] bold [/b] italic [/i]'
+      expected = '<i>italic<b>bold</b>italic</i>'
+      out = to_html(doc)
+      expect(out).to eq(expected)
+    end
+
+    it 'auto-closes tags at eof' do
+      expect(to_html("[b]bold")).to eq("<b>bold</b>")
+      expect(to_html("[i]italic")).to eq("<i>italic</i>")
+    end
+  end
+
   describe Parser do
     let(:parser) { Parser.new }