Welcome to Harriet's House

On Instagram, we went by @falesfolk. We joined the #oldhousecommunity in its heyday, but stayed relatively under the radar (as we like it.) The account was a place for us to document the various DIY (and not-so DIY) projects of our humble little 1890s folk victorian in Troy, NY.

But here, we want to tell the story of the house. We want to breathe life into her history, her struggles, her ugly and her beauty. She's not the fanciest home on the internet, certainly not, but she deserves the love and attention all the same.

So, who is Harriet?

Diving into the history of your house should be required by all old house owners. We spent a long time combing newspaper clippings, following deeds, and scouring local history to learn about the first family that lived here, and lived here the longest.

Harriet was the matriarch of that family. She outlived two husbands, and most of her 7 children. She lived in this house from 1905 (yes, we said the house was from 1890 – it sat largely unoccupied after it's official build date due to factors we may get into in another post) until 1973, when she died at the impressive age of 99.

Harriet hosted countless parties, a wedding, church groups, meals, after-school gatherings for her children's extracurricular activities, you name it. Her spirit lives on in this house, whether you want to believe that literally or figuratively. Harriet is who we have chosen to refer to when we speak of the house. She was as much a real human as she is the soul of this structure.

For the paranormal fans, we've had very few encounters in a house so old. The ones that we have had have all been pleasant, such as the smell of freshly baked goods greeting us at the bottom of the stairs in the morning, or the faint smell of cigarettes wafting from the parlor. When we recently renovated the kitchen, however, that is when Harriet decided to get a little mischievous. The knobs on our new gas range were being turned ever so slightly to the "on" position, sometimes causing the igniter to spark and the smell of gas to pool. A few child protection locks put a stop to that right quick, but we believe she was simply trying to figure out the "newfangled technology" so she could get back to cooking us ghostly meals!

So who are her keepers?

If you don't already know us, we are Krystal and Joe - a couple of 30-somethings who have known each other since childhood, dated in high school, and married in 2018. We have three cats, Eaves, Mo, and Bug. Krystal is a user experience designer and Joe is an electrical tech on locomotives. We are both hobby photographers, avid readers, and have been known to play the occasional video game (ask us about our vintage Atari systems).

What to expect here...

We've done a lot to Harriet's House since taking up residence in March of 2017, and we've also learned a lot. Since we previously used Instagram to document projects, we may find ourselves repeating some content that if you followed us there will seem familiar. This blog seems like an opportunity to further expand upon projects, our thought processes, our decisions, our learning, and our failures. We will talk more about the house history, add musings about lighting and hardware, showcase how insufferable we are when it comes to certain aesthetic choices, and loudly complain about having to undo yet another "repair" done by a previous owner.

Current projects:

• Front Porch: Our front porch is being rebuilt to match the original construction, pre-vinyl catastrophe. It is all wood, with cedar shingles, 3" tongue & groove flooring, and a LOT of custom millwork.
• Dining Room: One of the last remaining wallpaper removal projects. Our dining room is a continuation of the kitchen renovation we started last year. We have begun removing the wallpaper in preparation for a lot of plaster repair and then eventually will hang new paper.
• Stairs: This one is never-ending. We'll do a whole post about it. Don't get me started.

The Kitchen

We recently "completed" (no project is ever 100% complete here, just a heads up) our kitchen renovation. I never finished posting about it on Instagram, once we realized there was far too much nuance that a caption couldn't cover, and I was not about to film a stupid reel for views. Long form suits our thought process better anyway.

Expect at least a few parts to our full and complete kitchen renovation coming once I figure out how to use this platform. But for now, here's a sneak:

Hope you'll stick around!

We've got plenty of ideas floating around that we'd love to post about. Not every post will be this long, and some may even be longer. We wont stick to any sort of posting schedule, so expect it to always be a surprise when we update. Until next time.