A terraced house in Devon, entirely transformed into a vast, immersive artwork by its owner, has been listed for sale with a guide price of £2 million.
A Home Transformed Into a Canvas
British artist Emily Powell, 35, has spent years hand-painting every surface of her five-bedroom home in Brixham. From light switches and floorboards to bath tiles and the refrigerator, no part of the property has been left untouched. The result is approximately 400 square metres of deeply personal artwork that flows across two floors, creating a single, walk-in painting.
Each room is designed to evoke different emotions. A comforting red lounge features fireplace tiles inscribed with family memories, while a playful circus-themed room is adorned with animals wearing party hats. The upstairs hallway, leading to the master bedroom, is dominated by giant sunflowers reflecting Powell's recent summer residency on the Isles of Scilly. Her young child's room offers protection in the form of painted giant tigers.
An Artistic Chapter of Life
Powell, who grew up in Liverpool and lives with her husband, young child, and cat, funded the purchase of the house entirely with earnings from her art over the past decade. After years in rented accommodation, she soon began her monumental project. "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 explained.
The home has become a visual diary. "It has become a journey through different parts of my life," Powell said. "There are birds flying in memory of my late father and different scenes from my life, from the Arctic and Lake District to the Inner Hebrides of Scotland." She used standard five-litre tins of house paint and brushes from a local hardware store to create the expansive works, often painting in the evenings after becoming a mother.
Preserving a Unique Art Legacy
The sale is not just for the property. It includes an additional 65 pieces of Powell's work from the last ten years, plus 20 items of painted furniture, such as bookcases, a bin store, and a playhouse. To ensure the artwork endures, Powell has pledged to return to the house every 10 years for the rest of her life to carry out any necessary retouching.
Public interest has been immense. Ahead of the sale, Powell is hosting a series of open-house tours, with all tickets selling out in just 24 hours and a waiting list of over 500 people. Visitors from the United States and Europe are expected to attend, where Powell's kitchen will serve as a tea room offering cake from Devon company High Tide Tea.
Riccardo Carrelli of Chestertons, who is handling the sale, described the offering as a "fusion" of art and property. "The collection is a significant art investment at an early stage in the artist’s career," he added. For Powell, selling marks the closing of a major chapter. "I don’t want to paint over what’s already here, I need to start a new chapter," she said. "This is an opportunity for people to have an entire capsule of art."
