How cool is that!!! Congratulations!

Wow-You're famous!! You look very nice and professional!

Oh wow! You give great interview. And, rattling off the inventory like that made it all the more interesting. Were you saying the same amount of hardware came with all the homes? What I really wonder is if you've seen any instruction booklets? Were they elaborative or strictly instructional? How many pages were they typically?

Rosemary! You're only 18!! I didn't know that.

Nice job, by the way.

Oh Rose,

I so enjoyed meeting you and learning about Sears Kit Homes.
You did a great job with the interview.

Congrats!

Sue

Wow!

I will be looking at that again and again. My family moved around a lot when I was growing up. I wonder if we might ever have lived in a Sears home.

Good quality video, too.

And you look and sound great.

Sue

That was so interesting. You were not only knowledgeable but you seemed so relaxed and you have a wonderful speaking voice too. Very impressive. That was a great interview.

I guess, we have a celebrity in our mids! WOW, that is so cool.

And you totally sound like you know what you are talking about.

Just how did you find out, you were on utube?

Moni

Great interview!

Rose, do you live in a Sears home??

Rosemary
That was a very interesting story and you did a wonderful interview.
Congratulations!!!
Deb

Wow! I am so impressed! That was a great interview and I could tell that you love what you were talking about! I am definitely more interested in Sears homes now!

Like Sue, I plan to watch that over & over again.

Rose that was fantastic how wonderful to hve an interest like that Thanks so much you do know this is going around the world as I speak!!

Great job! How do you know if a house is a Sears house? My grandmother had a house that looked a lot like some of those. What year did they start?

Nice job Rose! They are interesting homes. I see so many in our little town that look just like the ones in your interview. Now I'm wondering, are they sears homes?

Rose...I have a question...

Denny and I were married in the 60s....

I am absolutely sure we used to look in the catalog and see homes that you could buy...because they were much more inexpensive than buying ready built.

Were these not considered the "Sears" homes???

And also...is there a place on the net that has pictures of each style....many of the ones you were walking past look familiar. We have many many old homes in our town.

And it was a railroad town so there would have been a place to ship the home to, with easy access.

LOL...I wonder if Sears sold barns....that's what we ended up in.

Oh..and you looked wonderful...very pretty lady...and I'd love to have your hair...much better than the very thin stuff I have to fight with daily..."smile"

patti

Great interview, Rosemary. I do believe my sister lives in a Sears home. Somebody stopped at her house a few years ago and told her it was a Sears home. She and I both grew up in a town that milled the lumber for Sear's homes (She STILL lives there and her home IS near a railroad.) It was the town of Norwood, Ohio, and I believe their lumber was supplied by Norwood Sash and Door.

I enjoyed the video very much! Not so many Sears homes in my area, but I love architecture and DIY -- the kit homes were truly the first all-in-one DIY project! You did a great job on the video, too -- very relaxed and professional, but with a nice sense of humor.

Thanks for sharing!

This whole thing has blown my mind! I'm not from the US so I never heard or knew of such. That is such a part of history!

Buying an unassembled home from a catalogue?!? I kept looking at the price tags in the catalogue for those homes comparing to the home market price of today! Good grief! Never imagined I could buy a home without physically house hunting. Is this still available today? I don't mean from Sears but from anyone? Just wondering.

Thanks Rosemary for showing this to us. That was great to know and so interesting!!!

So, you wrote some books. You got me interested on the subject. I'm interested in purchasing one or two. Could I still get them?

Wow, thanks for sharing and Congrats on a great and interesting interview. You looked great too!

Natalie

I've always known about Sears homes but learned so much more watching this. Do you live in one now, Rosemary?..I particularly like the one bungalow style with the peaked porch roof. We had some of them in my hometown. I have a garden house which came here in 1935 by train. I live fairly close to the tracks and I have the labels on the walls .I guess the people built it and it came in sections but it's neat.It has dutch doors, window boxes and windout windows. Of course lawnwmowers and flower pots litter the neat wooden floors. My friend said I should put in wicker furniture and it would look precious. I know it would.

That was a terrific interview, very informative. I can understand why you got hooked on these houses. Thanks for posting the link.

Hey Redcurls, I wonder who it was that stopped at her house and told her it was a Sears Home? I was in Norwood, Ohio (and surrounding areas) in 2002 and 2003 and I stopped at a few homes and talked to the homeowners.

I'm betting money that if anyone stopped at her house it was probably me and/or one of my co-horts.

As to the availability of my books, did I mention they make a wonderful Christmas present!? :)

Rose

Rose, that was fabulous! Your passion sure shows. I would love to own one of those kit homes. Thank you so much for sharing.
~Betsy

Rose - That was a very good interview.
I know a little bit about Sears homes, but it was fun to learn more.
I've recently been reading about the small kit homes that were inspired by the post Katrina need on the Gulf coast.
Apparently, the interest has been so great that Lowe's is planning on selling them. That being said, they do not compare to the Sears homes in variety, size or complexity of the architecture.
Thanks for sharing!

That was fun. Good job.

Rose, that was a great interview and you were so amazingly calm.

I had to laugh at your comment about your hair. I have that same kind of wild hair too. :)

That was SO interesting! I love old house's.

That was fascinating, Rosemary! GREAT job!

That was great,very informative,and you seemed so relaxed.Then again i guess when you know what you are talking about,that is easy.Good job.
Kathi

Hi, I have a friend that lives in Kenilworth NJ. The
houses in her development are Sears houses. They have
'morphed' over the years. But I visited one that was
quite 'primitive', there was a hole in the floor on
the first level with a grate covering it. During the
winter heat came up from the furnace to warm that area.

Thought it was quaint! Enjoyed your interview.

Very nice, Rosemary!

Rosemary, you didn't say where we could get your books. If they were published awhile back, not sure it's easy to find. Besides, I didn't catch the name of the books.

Would you please list the name of the books and their ISBNs? Thanks!

Never mind. I found them at Amazon.com. Thanks.

Enjoyed your interview very much.

EXCELLENT!

That was great to watch! How did you discover it was on You Tube?

Thanks for sharing.

sooey

I found that interview extremely interesting. I knew there were Sears kit homes, but didn't know any of the details.

I can't wait for my husband to get home so I can show it to him too.

Rosemary, I don't remember if I told you, but my great uncle and his wife built a Sears home. It was a tiny 3 br cottage, with the tiniest bedrooms you ever saw. The largest BR could hardly hold a full sized bed and small dresser, and the closet was so small, it was unbelievable! I have no idea how they put wardrobes in those rooms. It must have been the $500 model! LOL Anyway, I don't remember when they built it, but it was when my mother was young, and she is 89. It's on an island, and they had to bring the pieces down by barge to what was my grandfather's landing and then haul them by mule through the woods to the home site. It had a wraparound porch, that went across the front, and around the right side. I don't know if that was the design, or if they added it. It also had a small back porch.

It's still there, but the porch was torn off last time I saw it. My family sold it several years ago, and I hear that it's been remodeled.

The feature I best remember was the pushbutton light switches. Later on, my BIL rewired it and changed out all the switches, and he threw the old ones away. I wish he had saved them. I would have loved to have them in my house!

My grandmother inherited the house, and she lived in it for many years. We went to stay with her every summer, and loved that little cottage.

It has been through several major hurricanes, including Hugo and Gracie, and has stood firm. It really is a remarkable piece of workmanship.

I'll never forget sitting out on that front porch with the sea breeze blowing through my hair as a chik

I did manage to salvage a wall lamp from the back hall. I have it packed away, and one day I'll put it somewhere special.

It would be nice if you could tell me what model it was. The BR''s were all on the right side as you went in the front door, and the LR and DR were much larger than the BR's. The kitchen was long and narrow, and the bathroom and back BR were off a tiny hall off the DR.

Very interesting interview, Rose. You seemed so comfortable in front of the camera, too! You've done this before, haven't you? I think there should be an in depth TV program, giving viewers a tour of some different Sears Home plans. I would like to know about the features people liked most, other than saving money. Thank you for sharing your interview.

I found this site with pics of all the Sears homes and when they were in the catalog, and I think my grandmother's house was the Crafton (1933 to 1940), but the strange thing is, they built it with the bedrooms on the right instead of the left like in the plans. Leave it to my family to turn things around! LOL Bet that took some doing!

If you scroll down, you'll see what it looked like.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sears homes 1933 to 1940

Very nice interview! I am ordering the books from amazon.com. I can't wait to get them. I have always enjoyed the pictures you have posted of the Sears homes. Thank you for sharing them, your knowledge and your youtube. Congratulations! Job well done!

Rosemary, I enjoyed your video. Those Sears homes are so interesting. I'd sure love to have one. And your book would make a great "coffee table book" for Christmas gifts.

P.S. Be grateful for all that air, girl!

Oops, meant to say HAIR!

Wow, thanks for the responses. I went out of town shortly after I made this post. And when I came back, I saw 40+ responses!!! Thanks for sharing my happiness and excitement. :)

Hey - about the book - if anyone would like to see a copy of "The Houses That Sears Built" *and* would be willing to write a brief review of the book at www.Amazon.com, drop me a note and I'll send you a free copy. :) And I'd be grateful if you'd donate it to the local library when you're done with it (be that two days or ten years later).

Thanks again for your enthusiastic responses. If you'd like a book, please send an email with your mailing address to: rosethornton@cox.net.

Rose Thornton