It’s Friday! Last night, Greg and I had our weekly “Thursday night weekend planning session” and even though we have a lot to accomplish this weekend, I’m more than excited to get some stuff done around here. It’s on. Like Donkey Kong. Yep, I just went there.

Alright, so in honor of… well, today being Friday, we’re dubbing this “Flashback Friday”. Yesterday, I was surfing through the endless abyss that is my computer and stumbled on the very first images we saw of the inside of our house: the MLS photos! They’re a little blurry but you still get the gist of our first glimpse of the house and what we saw when we first came in for our first walk-through…

The photo of the exterior had us at hello. There are a lot of brick ranches in our neck of the woods, but this one was exactly what we were hoping for. Seeing the planters with the small trees on the front porch reminds me of how I wanted to do that. Adding to the Grand ‘Ole To-Do List.

This photo made us realize how spacious it was on the inside compared to the other houses we’d looked at. We seriously looked at about four other ranches, and this one was by far the most spacious of them all. That was one of the main reasons this house shot to the top of our list.

Most of the houses around here have fireplaces, but I particularly liked this one because it was floor-to-ceiling brick. We also noted (and loved) the variations in the hardwood floors (the light and dark planks) and the inset detailing around the fireplace.

Neither of us really needed or wanted a huge kitchen – we decided to save that for our “someday over the rainbow house”. (Though moving out of this house seems like something that’s never going to happen because we love it too much.) We liked this kitchen space because it was open to the living room, and it was just the right amount of “kitchen” for us.

Here’s a shot of the foyer. Now get this… the previous owner bought those lamps and the table from my parents’ at their yard sale about five years previous. Such a small world!

Coming from an apartment, we were totally stoked about having a real, honest-to-goodness patio. We also noticed the roof over the carport was already incorporated with the rest of the roof, which would make it ultra-easy to close it in later down the road for a bonus room or a one-car garage. That was the icing on the cake that made us make a bee-line for the phone to call the realtor. The rest is history!

It’s funny to look back at those and remember all of the excitement we felt and saying, “we could do this” and “how about this?”. Ahh, young house love. Woah, pun not intended, haha. But I have a new appreciation for their blog title.

And again, since this is Friday, how about a little music, shall we? Here’s my little brother (aka Abram Dean) and his BFF Rudi Aliza (who, as you will see, has an amazing voice!) singing their version of “Moves Like Jagger”. First though, since they posted the video, I’ve been giving him a hard time about his glasses – and no, he doesn’t really wear glasses. They’re “fashion glasses”. Though I normally love his clothes-picking-out-ing… the glasses are so big they need their own windshield wipers. Seriously. Greg just read this over my shoulder and said, “It’s so true!”

Even though I’m a big Maroon 5 fan, I’ve got to say, I kinda like Abram + Rudi’s version a tad better. Okay, okay, I’m just a proud sister. Sue me. But isn’t it better? ; )

How about you? Got any weekend plans?

Last week marked our one year anniversary here at 7th House on the Left. Technically, one year for the blog and our 10 month anniversary living in the house. We know it sounds totally cliche, but time REALLY does fly! It seems like it was just last week when we posted the very first post. And it seems like yesterday when we started moving furniture in the house. Yes indeed, cliche or not, time flys when you’re having fun.

Over the past year, many questions have come through our inbox. We don’t have a bajillion FAQ’s to warrant having a dedicated FAQ page and our house isn’t anywhere near “done” enough to have a bona-fide “source list” to answer the “where did you get that?” questions. With that being said, we decided to gather up some of our most frequently asked questions and answer them in a post…

Where did you get the “Rare Prints” sign in your living room?
Pottery Barn. Unfortunately, they don’t carry it anymore, which is a complete shame because we get 4+ emails a week from people asking where they can get one! It’s one of our favorite pieces in the house and we are SO glad we snatched one up when we did. A fellow blogger, Susie Harris, actually saw our sign here on the blog and decided to DIY it! Read how she did it here!

Who designed your blog?
The blog was designed by yours truly. Basically, I do all of the graphic design stuff and Greg does the programming, coding, and makes it happen. We make a good team : )

Do you design websites and/or blogs for other people/companies?
We used to, but due to our busy schedules, we’ve hung up our web design hats. I have a graphic design background (more accurately, an advertising background) and occasionally take on clients to stay fresh and “in the zone”. As for designing for the web, there just aren’t enough hours in the day… or brain power.

Has anyone ever told Greg he looks like Seth Rogen?
It’s funny that a few of you have actually asked this because there aren’t that many photos of us on the blog yet (I know, I know. We’re working on it!). No exaggeration, promise… he hears it 6 days out of the week. Quite a few have even asked if he was Seth Rogen. Which is weird because what would Seth be doing in the middle of Virginia? Anywhere we go… Chick-Fil-A, Target, Cracker Barrel, Wallgreens, Starbucks we hear, “Has anybody told you that you look just like that guy from [insert Seth Rogen movie here]?”

When do you publish new posts?
This isn’t really a FAQ, but it’s a new-ish thing around here so we though we’d throw it in. We post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We post the occasional giveaway on Tuesdays and even sprinkle an Etsy Thursday in here and there. We also may pop in for a random update from time to time, depending on the project at hand. But all in all, we keep to the MWF schedule to keep our brains organized and so you know when a new post is up waiting to be read. Yay for schedules! I feel better when things are more organized, don’t you? Also, when a new post is up, we let you guys know via Twitter and Facebook.

How do you design your His + Her favorite things boards?
I use a mixture of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. If the product photos need to be edited (the background taken out or cropped) I do that in Photoshop. When it comes to laying it all out, I head over to Illustrator and put all of the pieces together. You could also easily do the layout in Photoshop though. As for Greg, he normally just gives me his list of favorites and I put his board together for him, since he’s usually busy with his daily “nine-to-five”. Of course, I always make sure to show him his board when I’m done to get his “seal of approval”.

Where did you get the bedding in the guest room?
The white sheets are 100% bamboo sheets that we picked up from Tuesday Morning for a steal. (They’re SUPER soft and comfy, by the way!) The gray quilt is from Target (the Thomas O’Brien collection), and so are the yellow and white quilt (the Dwell Studio collection), the gray Euro pillows, and yellow flower pillow. Who doesn’t love Target? The blue pillows are from the long lost, yet very loved, Nate Berkus collection at Linens ‘N Things.

Did you ever find a second Jonathan Adler-esque lamp?
They’re talking about this lamp I picked up at HomeGoods way back when. Sadly, no. Since it doesn’t have a mate, the lamp is in my office (you can see it here) and I think that’s where it’s going to stay. I really like it in there, so it kind of seems meant-to-be. However, one reader emailed us from Ohio saying they saw it at their Home Goods and even offered to go back and get it for us and ship it! Seriously, how did we get such awesome readers this early on?

Where is your go-to vacation destination?
Yes, this is the one random/just for fun question. I don’t think we’ve talked about it much on the blog (except for maybe a little in this post), but Greg and I are total Disney World fans. We’ve been to London, Ireland, Canada, and even Australia. All of them are really awesome destinations, yeah. But when it comes to our number one go-to vacation destination, Disney World has them all beat. It may sound crazy, but it’s true. It might be more of a sentimental connection though. Growing up, my family went to Disney World for vacation every single year – sometimes more than twice a year. No, my family members don’t have their houses decked completely in Mickey Mouse ears… though the jury is still out on my cousin Dana (kidding!). We all just enjoy fun atmosphere and the magic that is Disney. When Greg and I got married, for our honeymoon, we spent two weeks at Disney World. I had the best time showing Greg (who had only been there once when he was 10) around and got to show off my Disney World vacationing skills. Since our honeymoon, we’ve vacationed there twice and still can’t wait to go back again. Ugh, I could write an entirely other blog on this. Don’t hate on the rather stylish Mickey Mouse shades.

What kind of camera do you use?
On the blog, you’ll find a mixture of photos taken with our iPhones, a Sony Powershot, and a Canon 5D Mark II.

What breed of dog is Bentley?
Bentley is a full breed Promeranian… though sometimes we wonder if he’s part squirrel. Or deer. Or kangaroo. Or cat. Or fox, even. But nope, his papers beg to differ.

What paint color did you use in your living room (guest bedroom, laundry room, etc)?
We get this question so often, we decided to add a paint colors button to the sidebar. Even so, we decided to include it in today’s FAQ round up because it wouldn’t be an honest-to-goodness FAQ roundup without including the MOST frequently asked question of all time. So, for kicks, here we go: The living/dining room, and Greg’s office were painted Martha Stewart’s Cobblestone (#MSL241) in satin. The hallway is the same color, though in flat. My office and our master bedroom were both painted Restoration Hardware’s Slate in subtle velvet finish. The guest bedroom and laundry room were painted Martha Stewart’s Artesian Well (#MSL117) – the guest room in flat and the laundry room in satin. The trim and doors were painted Sherwin-Williams’ Extra White (in semi-gloss). Whew! That’s a lot of paint!

That about covers the frequently (and not so frequently) asked questions we get around here. If you have a question we didn’t cover, ask away in the comment section!

FACEBOOK ONLY GIVEAWAY ALERT! This week, we’re giving one lucky “Facebook-Liker” a set of our favorite interior design books (the ones I talked about in this post!). So click on over, “Like” 7th House on the Left, and find out how to win!

Last night, we decided it was time to break out the fall decorations from the attic. Greg went up in the attic to get the box, and I laid an old coverlet on the dining room table so we could unload the loot…

As we unboxed everything… Okay, this is going to sound really cheesy and corny, but it’s true… we both noticed that for the first time, the house felt 100% OURS. It sounds kind of crazy since we’ve been living here for about 11 months now, but I think it’s because this is the first season we’re decorating for, added to the fact that we actually got our stuff out of our attic. When we decorated for Christmas, the tree came right off the moving truck and into the family room, and it just wasn’t the same.

Another thing that crossed our minds was, when we lived in our apartment, it seemed like we had a pretty hefty amount of fall decorations. But now, with 1000+ additional square feet, it feels like we have very little. By the way, it seems like someone (namely, me) has a particular love for pumpkins, you think?!

Speaking of pumpkins, I bought these white pumpkin candles from Pottery Barn two years ago. Unfortunately, they didn’t do too well in the attic. Obviously, the super hot Virginia summer was too much for them.

When we lived in the apartment, we had a small climate controlled storage unit that we used to store seasonal decorations, keepsakes, etc., so we didn’t have to think about stuff like that. Shortly after we moved, we put everything in the attic and totally forgot about these being in the fall decorations box. When I bought them a couple of years ago, I planned on lighting them at some point, but they were just too pretty to use up! I’m thinking I’ll try to repair them with a flame-friendly paint, then go ahead and use them up this year. It will be interesting to see how they burn. They might end up being really pretty – especially the large one.

As for Bentley, he has a rather odd fascination with Mr. & Mrs. Pilgrim…

After telling him “no”, about a hundred times, I put them back in the box thinking he would forget about them. But no, he just decided to pout and make me feel bad for crushing his hopes of having a set of Pilgrim toys…

Even though I like to keep seasonal decorating simple and uncluttered, we’re definitely in need of a few more things. Until then, I wanted to start with hanging the wreath on the front door.

After a closer look, I noticed that some of the berries had lost their paint…

Probably another victim of the hot, Virginia summer. No worries though! I had a quick fix in mind…

Yep, nail polish! Luckily, thanks to Chanel, I had a color that was really close to the dark berries. A dab here and a little dab there, the reath was as good as new!

Now, we needed a wreath hanger. We found this clear, plastic one that was in the box with our pumpkin collec–I mean… fall decorations:

The cheap plastic hanger didn’t look very nice on our red front door, but unlike the nicer, wrought iron hanger we have in one of our Christmas decor boxes, the plastic one actually fit over the door. So, the plastic one worked better; it just didn’t look better. Greg went out to the shed to see what we had, and we has some Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint left over from when I painted the planters for the back door. Bingo! This plastic wreath hanger was the perfect excuse to use some more of my favorite spray paint!

It actually looks like real oil rubbed bronze! An hour or so of drying time later (I know, it probably needed to cure, but I couldn’t wait!), it was on the door.

That about wraps up phase one of our fall decorating! Hopefully we’ll be making a trip to the pumpkin patch as soon as this rainy weather clears up, and we’ll definitely be making a trip to a store or two to make sure our fall decorations don’t just look like a pumpkin collection anymore!

Have you started decorating for fall yet? Is a fall wreath first on your list, too? And please tell me I’m not the only one with a pumpkin obsession…?