There’s a whole lot of confusion around Sears Homes. Most often, people rush to declare they have a Sears Home, when in fact, their home bears little resemblance to an actual Sears Home. Way too often, I hear the exclaim, I know it’s a Sears Home because the floor plan is a good match!

If you’re going to use a floorplan to identify a Sears Home, it must be precise. Each of the rooms in the subject house must be exactly the same dimension as shown in the original catalog image. For instace, the living room in a Starlight should be 12’8″ by 10’5″.   Not 12 by 10, but exactly 12’8″ by 10’5″.

Often people say, “Well, it has the same room arrangement as a Sears House.”

When you’re dealing with little homes (like the Starlight), there aren’t but so many ways to lay out the rooms. Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen on the left, and bedroom bath bedroom on the right. That’s pretty much it. There’s a lot more to identifying Sears Homes. Click here to read the rest.

An article in the Green Bay Press Gazette mistakenly called this house (click here) a Sears Starlight. It’s not. Click on the link (to see images of the house in the piece) and then look at these photos below.

What’s most troubling about this erroneous piece is that Wisconsin is loaded with Sears Homes. Perhaps there are several Sears Homes in the same neighborhood as the NASH (Not a Sears House) featured in this Green Bay Press Gazette piece.

Alas!

This is what a Sears Starlight looks like.

Starlight, as seen in the 1921 Sears Modern Homes catalog

Starlight in Alton, IL. Now this is a Starlight! These houses should be a spot-on match to the original catalog image (as shown above).

Starlight in DuQuoin, IL

And in the basement, you should see this.

This mark (a 3-digit number with a letter) together with a 75-page instruction book helped the novice homeowner assemble his own house!

For more information on how to identify Sears Homes, click here.

To buy Rose’s book, click here.

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