Why all TikTok houses sort of look the same
This article from Curbed explores why so many TikTok house backgrounds are kind of the same and where all those seemingly “homey” decorative items come from. No surprise, the answer usually big box stores, which speaks volumes about how America shops.
Early 20th Century kit houses from Sears
I didn’t know this, but at one point in America, Sears sold material to build pre-fab kit houses with instructions printed in Popular Mechanics. The magazine has written up quite an interesting backstory about this short-lived phenomenon and even detail how some of those houses still exist today — built entirely by relatively unskilled would-be home owners.
If you’re curious, here’s a website that details some of the most popular Sears home styles you could buy at the time. Also, the Internet Archive has a fully scanned catalog you can look at.
