PALETTEMOMENTO · MADE FOR YOUR PLACE

Custom House Portraits from Your Photos

Keep a family home, celebrate a first house or mark a closing with a hand-painted portrait. Bring back the garden, the old shutters and the details that belong to your story.

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Your reference · Your dimensions · Your destination

A real hand-painted house portrait from our studio collection. Rooflines, windows, planting and the front path all contribute to the likeness.

A House Portrait with Its Own Character

A second finished painting from our studio collection shows a different kind of home. Compare the roof shape, front door, garden and season when planning your own portrait.

Hand-painted gray house with a red front door, lawn and autumn trees — **Autumn trees and a red front door.** The facade, lawn and mature trees are all part of the painted view.

Keep the Details That Make a House Portrait Yours

Choose the house at its best

Use a main view that shows the roof and entrance clearly. Extra angles can explain a hidden porch or side wall without forcing every facade into the painting.

Separate permanent features from clutter

Mark cars, bins and temporary signs for removal. Identify mature trees, a favorite flower bed or a gate that belongs in the memory of the home.

Plan the gift inscription early

If you want an address, family name or date, supply the exact wording and placement. Keep lettering distinct from the architectural details that identify the property.

Homes & Buildings for a Custom House Portrait

Most house portraits are gifts about a building that is changing hands or has already gone: the family home, a childhood home from a faded print, a first home given at the closing, a cabin or farm the family has kept for years, or a church or school painted when someone retires. Send the photo and tell us the story in one line.

Popular starting points

You have one clear photo of the front, or several we can combine.
You want a real painted surface with visible brush and knife marks.
You want changes made: clutter removed, a season swapped, a dog added.
You are a realtor or builder ordering the same gift again and again.

Let’s discuss the details

Need precise architectural details? Send close-ups and tell us which proportions matter. We can discuss a detailed painting; measured technical drawings serve a different purpose.
Working toward a closing or gift date? Share the date and destination so we can check rush availability, drying and delivery.
Only have a listing photo or someone else’s image? Tell us its source so we can discuss permission and alternative references.

Choosing Photos for Your House Painting

You do not need a professional photo. You do need enough detail for our painters to read the roof, the windows and the door.

One straight-on shot of the front, from far enough back that the whole building fits, camera at eye level rather than pointed up.
Daylight, early or late. Low warm sun shows the depth of a porch and the texture of brick or stone. Flat midday light hides it.
Close-ups of anything blocked. If a tree covers the door, send the door on its own.

We can combine several photos into one composition, for example the front of the house from one picture and the garden in bloom from another. We can also leave things out. Cars, trash bins, power lines, satellite dishes, road signs, scaffolding and the neighbor’s fence can all go. If a tree has grown over the porch we can trim it back. Send that list with the photos.

Please make sure you have the right to use the photo you send. Realtors should get the client’s permission before gifting a portrait of their house. If your only picture is a listing photo or a screenshot from a mapping service, tell us when you enquire, because those images often belong to someone else. We never publish a client’s address next to a house image.

Blue door cottage garden impressionist painting displayed as framed wall art in a bright living room — Room mockup showing a catalog painting. Doors, porches and planting carry a lot of a house. Send close-ups of those details with the wide shot.

Personalize Your House Portrait

A photo captures one day. Your house portrait can bring together the details you remember from different years.

Change the season

Paint the maple in October even if you shot it in March. Add snow on the roof, or the beds in summer flower.

Change the light

Show the house at dusk, windows lit and a warm glow on the porch. This is the change people ask for most.

Add what belongs

The family dog on the step, the old car in the drive, a swing on the tree, a cat in the window.

Turn back time

Paint the earlier paint color, put back the tree that came down, or leave off the addition built later.

Write these notes in plain words. “Green shutters, not the white ones, and please put the dog on the step” is a fine brief.

House Portrait Styles in Acrylic or Oil

Style is your choice. A realistic portrait keeps every brick and window pane in place, which suits a stone church or strong architecture. A loose impressionist portrait reads the building in broad strokes of light and color, which suits a cottage in a garden. Both cost the same.

The easiest way to brief us is to point at a painting you already like. Open our landscape and countryside collection or our Mediterranean and coastal collection, pick a piece and say “this handling, my house”. Our painters match the stroke, the palette and the level of texture.

We paint in acrylic unless you ask for oil. Acrylic holds a crisp edge on window frames, roof lines and brickwork, and it dries fast, so it suits a gift with a date on it. Oil is available on request and blends softly, which is lovely for misty light, but oil dries slowly between layers, so oil pieces take longer. Heavy texture takes longer for the same reason. One painter carries your canvas from start to finish, and you can read how we paint if you want the order of the work.

Terracotta rooftops above the bay impressionist oil in a cozy living room — Room mockup showing a catalog painting. Warm loose strokes on real buildings. A good reference if you want the house softened rather than photographic.

Custom House Portrait Sizes & Finishes

Illustration of dimensions. Choose your own width and height.

What changes this commission’s quote

Painting detail

Facade complexity, landscaping and any people or pets to add.

Surface & presentation

Inscription detail, painting style and framed or unframed presentation.

Delivery planning

Gift arrival date, recipient destination and the packing required for the finish.

How we prepare your quote

Over a mantel, most people choose a wide canvas that sits a little narrower than the shelf. In an entryway or up a stairwell a tall canvas works better, because the portrait is the first thing a guest sees. Measure your wall and send us the number. Rolled canvas in a tube is the cheapest way to ship a batch, especially over about 20 pieces.

How it is made	Painted by hand in acrylic or oil on canvas in our Dafen studio, Shenzhen. Never printed.
Sizes	60 standard sizes from 24 by 20 inches up to 80 by 60 inches, plus sets of two and three. Any other size at the same rate.
Production	7 to 10 business days for 1 to 5 pieces. 10 to 15 for 6 to 20 pieces.
Finishes	Rolled, stretched on solid wood bars, or framed in black, white, wood, silver or gold at one price.
Approval	Progress photos while we paint, finished photos before it ships. Nothing leaves until you approve.
Minimum order	None. Trade pricing from one piece, improving at 6 and again at 21.

House Portrait Closing Gifts for Realtors

A house portrait is a closing gift that does not end up in a drawer. It hangs in the home you sold, with your client’s own house on it.

No minimum order. Trade pricing starts at one piece, so you can order one closing at a time.
The rate improves at 6 pieces and again at 21, and mixed designs count together, so six different houses are priced as one order.
For a first order or a large project we paint a sample. It is a separate single-piece order, and the larger order is quoted on its own.
Ask your customs broker to confirm destination duties, taxes and clearance requirements.

Send the photo your client is happy for you to use, the closing date and the size. If you order in batches through the year, read our trade terms and tell us your schedule so we can plan studio time.

Building Portraits for Retirement & Group Gifts

The other big use is a group gift. A congregation orders the church for a pastor who is retiring. Parents and staff order the school for a principal. A station orders the firehouse, a practice orders the clinic.

Public buildings photograph badly, because you cannot stand far enough back. Send several angles and we will build one clean composition. Religious symbols, crests, stonework and stained glass are painted as they actually are, so send close-ups of anything with meaning. If you want a name, a date or an address on the canvas, tell us the exact wording and we will confirm what is possible before we quote. If the gift comes from a school or an alumni group, our page on art for schools and universities covers how those orders run.

Your House Portrait Commission Step by Step

Painting time + delivery time

Your arrival date depends on both. Send your deadline and destination so we can check rush options, production time and the shipping schedule.

Send the photos through the quote form, with size, finish and notes on what to remove or add. Individuals and realtors use the same form.
We review your brief. WhatsApp: usually an immediate reply. Email: usually within 12 hours. We assess your photos and requirements before confirming the quote and schedule.
You confirm and pay a deposit. Usually 50 percent deposit and the balance before release. Wire, PayPal or card.
We paint. 7 to 10 business days for 1 to 5 pieces, with progress photos so you can steer the roof color early.
You approve. Nothing ships until you say yes. If a detail is wrong through our fault, we repaint at our cost.
We pack and release. Freight quoted at cost. For most countries you can choose duties included in the delivery quote (DDP), or pay the duties yourself on arrival. Express by FedEx or DHL takes 5 to 10 business days.

Heavy impasto golden autumn path relief in an elegant living room — Room mockup showing a catalog painting. Heavy texture can be used on a house portrait. It ships stretched or framed rather than rolled.

House Painting References & Related Services

You will never find your own house in a catalog. Send the photo and we paint it. The catalog is still a style menu. Browse landscape and countryside for farmhouses, fields and lanes, and Mediterranean and coastal for terracotta roofs and whitewashed walls. If your subject is a view rather than a building, see custom landscape paintings. For any other picture you want turned into paint, start at photo to painting. When the memory is a street, a harbor or a whole town instead of one building, look at paintings of places that matter.

Flower-draped doorway to the sea impressionist oil in an elegant living room — Room mockup showing a catalog painting. A tall canvas suits an entryway or a stairwell, which is where a lot of house portraits end up.

Custom House Portrait Questions

Can you paint how the house looked before a renovation?

Yes, if the references support the earlier appearance. Label old and current photographs, specifying which roof, windows, paint color and landscaping to use. We will identify any details that still need confirmation.

What if a tree hides part of the house?

An additional angle or an older photograph can help explain the hidden facade. Tell us whether the tree should stay, be reduced or be omitted; unseen architectural details need a reference or an agreed interpretation.

Can you paint my parents’ childhood home from an old photo, and does the photo need to be good?

Yes. Send whatever you have, even an old paper print that you photograph flat in good light. A straight-on shot of the front in daylight is easiest to work from, but faded and slightly soft pictures are normal for a childhood home. Send every picture you have, including close-ups of the door, porch or garden, and we will tell you honestly what our painters can read from them before you pay anything.

Is this a real painting or a digital oil-effect print?

It is a real painting. Every house portrait is painted by hand with brush and knife on canvas in our studio in Dafen Art Village, Shenzhen. We do not print, and we do not run a photo through a filter. You get progress photos while it is being painted, and you can see the brushwork in the finished photos we send before anything ships.

Which is better for a house portrait, oil or acrylic?

We paint in acrylic unless you ask for oil. Acrylic holds a crisp edge on window frames, roof lines and brickwork, and it dries fast, so it fits a gift with a date on it. Oil is available on request and blends softly, which suits misty light and loose impressionist work. Because oil dries slowly between layers, oil pieces take longer. Tell us your date and we will say which one fits.

Can you remove the cars, bins, power lines and the neighbor’s fence?

Yes. Cars, trash bins, power lines, satellite dishes, road signs, scaffolding and a neighbor’s fence can all be left out. If a tree hides the front door, send a close-up of the door and we will paint it in. If you want the season changed, snow added, flowers in the beds or the house at dusk with the lights on, ask for that too. Send the list with the photos.

I am a realtor. Can I order a house portrait at every closing and get a trade rate?

Yes. There is no minimum order and trade pricing starts at one piece. The rate improves at 6 pieces and again at 21, and mixed designs count together, so a batch of different houses is priced as one order. For a first order or a large project we paint a sample. It is a separate single-piece order, and the larger order is quoted on its own. Please have your client’s permission and the right to use the photo.

How long does a house portrait take, and can I get it before the closing?

Painting takes 7 to 10 business days for 1 to 5 pieces and 10 to 15 business days for 6 to 20. Large canvases, heavy texture and oil sit at the top of the band, because thick paint has to dry between layers. Freight is quoted at cost. For most countries you can choose duties included in the delivery quote (DDP), or pay the duties yourself on arrival. Express by FedEx or DHL takes 5 to 10 business days. Tell us the closing date when you enquire.

What size is right for a house portrait over a mantel or in an entryway?

Standard sizes run from 24 by 20 inches up to 80 by 60 inches, and any other size is painted to your measurements at the same rate. Over a mantel, most people choose a wide canvas a little narrower than the shelf. In an entryway or up a stairwell, a tall canvas reads better. Measure the wall, send us the number, and we will suggest sizes from the list.

Can I approve it before it ships, and what if the roof color is wrong?

Yes. We photograph the finished canvas and send the photos, and nothing leaves the studio until you approve. If the roof color, the brick tone or a window is wrong, tell us and we correct it. If a detail is wrong through our fault, we repaint at our cost. This is why we ask for a daylight photo and any notes about color right at the start.

Start Your House Portrait

Send the house photo plus a keep/remove list, exact inscription if any, painting dimensions and gift deadline.

Discuss Your Painting on WhatsApp

WhatsApp: usually an immediate reply. Email: usually within 12 hours.

support@palettemomento.com

Prefer a written brief? Use the quote form