A British artist has placed her extraordinary terraced home on the market for a guide price of £2 million after transforming it into a vast, lived-in artwork. Emily Powell, 35, has hand-painted every surface of the five-bedroom property in Brixham, Devon, creating an immersive environment that flows across two floors like a single, walk-in painting.
A Home Transformed Into a Personal Canvas
The property boasts around 400 square metres of deeply personal murals, covering everything from light switches and floorboards to bathroom tiles and the refrigerator. Powell used five-litre tins of house paint and brushes from her local hardware store to execute her vision. The result is a unique capsule of her life and career, where fishing boats bob along skirting boards, birds fly across walls, and a cupboard under the stairs becomes a swimming pool complete with a ladder.
Each room is designed to evoke different emotions. A comforting red lounge features fireplace tiles embedded with family memories, while a circus-themed playroom is populated by animals wearing party hats. The upstairs hallway, leading to the master bedroom, is adorned with giant sunflowers reflecting Powell's recent summer residency on the Isles of Scilly. Her young child's room includes protective giant tigers for nighttime reassurance.
An Artistic Chapter Preserved for the Future
Powell, who grew up in Liverpool and studied at Norwich School of Art, explained that the project began organically. "I think it was a couple of weeks before I decided to paint a tree on the back of the office door, then it grew really quickly," she said. The artwork incorporates scenes from her life, including tributes to her late father and landscapes from the Arctic to Scotland's Inner Hebrides. The doormat even features an homage to Henri Matisse.
Motherhood provided quiet evening hours for painting, with new works inspired by daily moments. "When you live inside one giant painting, there are so many angles you have to consider," Powell added. The sale includes an additional 65 pieces of art and 20 items of painted furniture, such as bookcases and a playhouse, produced over the past decade.
Public Interest and a Unique Sale Proposition
Ahead of the sale, Powell is hosting a series of open-house tours, with all tickets selling out within 24 hours and a waiting list of over 500 people. Visitors are travelling from the United States and Europe to experience the installation, where the kitchen will serve as a tea room. "I've had so many requests over the years to open the house up," Powell noted. "I felt like I have finally finished it."
She has pledged to return to the house every ten years for the rest of her life to retouch and preserve the artwork. "We've chosen to put it on the market because it's really important to me that this entire chapter is preserved," Powell stated. "I don't want to paint over what's already here, I need to start a new chapter."
Riccardo Carrelli of Chestertons, who is handling the sale, described it as a "fusion" of art and property. "The collection is a significant art investment at an early stage in the artist's career," he confirmed. The £2 million guide price reflects the combined value of the home and its extensive original artworks. Private viewings will be available outside of the public tours for serious buyers.
