Budget Breakdown: This Sears Kit Home in Houston Originally Cost $1,299. It Just Got a $368K Glow Up
A family expands the 1920s prefab with a two-level addition, introducing storage solutions, a primary suite, and a powder room painted a punchy blue.
A family expands the 1920s prefab with a two-level addition, introducing storage solutions, a primary suite, and a powder room painted a punchy blue.
Michelle White was recently at a neighbor’s dinner party when another guest—a visiting architect at Snøhetta—asked to see her house. Michelle and her husband, Haden Garrett, had spent more than a year renovating their Houston Heights residence, which dates back to the 1920s. They long suspected it was a Sears kit house—sold via catalogue from Sears, Roebuck and Co. and shipped to the buyer via railroad boxcars. Michelle’s neighbor, who lived in a Sears kit house almost identical to hers, had done the research, finding old advertisements that led everyone to believe their homes were the Josephine model: four rooms total, including two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom, retailing for $1,299, not including cement, brick, or plaster.
"I knew a bit about Sears houses and their history," says Michelle. "We live a block away from an old rail line that would go to the factories. The train would stop off here—this is the first suburb of Houston to the north of the city—and dump out houses."
White-painted shiplap, added by a previous owner, gives the original living room a heritage feel. White oak flooring throughout the house fulfills Michelle’s penchant for modernism and nods to the Scandinavian design in the inspiration images she sent architect Marisa Janusz.
Photo by Divya Pande
The post-dinner tour revealed an updated residence, but one that didn’t stray too far from the spirit of the original. An addition doubles its square footage, a simple palette of white paint, oak flooring, and millwork blending with the details of the original house; the couple wanted to keep it from appearing ostentatious or overly designed (a rising problem in the neighborhood, they say.) "We loved the home and wanted to preserve it as much as possible and expand in a way that felt modest and in keeping with the neighborhood," Michelle says. "It was important to keep the proportions sensitive to the original profile."
"We changed the light fixtures over the island," Janusz says of the Dutton Brown pendants. "We used simple shapes like squares and balls. We repeated globe light fixtures throughout, so you see them in the kitchen, the dining room, the laundry room, as well as up the stairs." Her team also added cabinetry around the refrigerator, but otherwise left the kitchen as it was.
Photo by Divya Pande
The family room that connects the original home with the addition has a new porch, built from wood Haden repurposed from another deck on the property.
Photo by Divya Pande
See the full story on Dwell.com: Budget Breakdown: This Sears Kit Home in Houston Originally Cost $1,299. It Just Got a $368K Glow Up
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