This week’s craft project pushed me out of my comfort zone: I painted a small portrait of our first house. For the past month and a half I’ve enjoyed a simple, quick craft each week—making a fall wreath, stenciling a pillow, painting baskets, decorating pumpkins and gourds, creating vacation keepsake globes, and trying ceramic paint on a bowl of colorful cacti. Those projects were all under an hour and straightforward (paint this, wrap that, caulk here). This portrait, however, turned into something different: slower, more deliberate, and full of learning moments.

The finished piece sits on a 10 x 10″ canvas from JoAnn that I picked up during a sale. I used acrylic paints I already had on hand; a basic acrylic set from most art or craft stores is affordable and will cover projects like this well. The whole process felt fun and a little cringe-worthy—painting a house portrait is vulnerable in a way simple decor crafts aren’t—but I wanted to share the honest progression so anyone curious about trying a house portrait with acrylics can see how it developed.

Materials

• 10 x 10″ canvas
• Acrylic paints in basic colors (blues, greens, whites, black, red, brown/gray tones)
• One flat-tip paintbrush that can be cleaned and reused through the process
• An old plate for mixing paints and paper towels for dabbing
• Gloss varnish to seal the finished painting

Step-by-Step Painting Process

• Step 1 — Base Colors: I started by laying down a quick base coat: green across the bottom for the grass and blue at the top for the sky. The colors felt bright and primary at first, but I planned to layer and adjust them as I worked.
• Step 2 — House Shape: Using a photo of the house as reference, I sketched the shape of the house, including perspective and chimneys. My initial brick color read too brown and dark, but the base layers would get covered and corrected later.
• Step 3 — Roof and Outlines: I painted the roof in black and added red over the original brick area to take away the brown tone. A thin black outline gave the house a little more definition.
• Step 4 — Details with One Brush: I used the same flat brush—cleaned between stages—to add shutters, chimney caps, and a lattice detail. The brush’s edge helped make straight lines for small features, keeping the process simple and consistent.
• Step 5 — Bushes and Trees: With several shades of green, I built up bushes and trees alongside the house. Mixing different tones prevented the foliage from looking flat and gave depth to the landscape.
• Step 6 — White Details and Roof Correction: I added white for porch trim and window ledges. I hadn’t accounted for the porch in the original roofline, so I adjusted that and lightened the neon-ish grass by mixing white into greens.
• Step 7 — Lightening Vegetation: The trees and shrubs received lighter layers to match the softened grass tones. I mixed colors on an old plate and dabbed excess on paper towels to control texture and saturation.
• Step 8 — Foreground Trees: I painted two prominent trees in front of the house on the left side and experimented with gray-brown accents across surfaces for cohesion.
• Step 9 — Harmonizing Colors: The gray-brown areas felt muddy, so I layered lighter greens in key places. I noticed roofs often reflect surrounding colors, so a faint green tint on the roof helped the composition feel more harmonious.
• Step 10 — Final Textural Dots: I used the back of the brush to add small dots for white azaleas in the bushes. I got carried away and dotted too many areas, so I removed some marks and kept only those that enhanced the composition.

Finishing and Sealing the Painting

All told, this painting was about five hours spread over three days. After a full day of drying, I sealed the acrylics with a high-gloss varnish applied in three thin, even coats spaced a few hours apart. The varnish adds depth and a finished look while protecting the paint. A little goes a long way, so a small bottle will last through many projects.

Placement and Final Thoughts

I hung the finished portrait in the office. It looks cozy in the corner, and my partner has been very encouraging about it. I debated painting the canvas edges white, green, or charcoal, but ultimately wrapped the image around the sides by continuing sky, trees, and grass for a cohesive presentation.

Looking back, I think a slightly lighter tone on the middle tree behind the house and darker tones at the edges might have framed the house more effectively. Still, the process was rewarding: painting allowed easy corrections and creative second chances. If you’re considering a house portrait, try working in layers, step back often, and remember you can always add another coat of paint. It’s a great way to capture a beloved home with acrylics, and it makes for a personal, handmade keepsake.

Have you tried a house portrait—painted, mixed media, or a stylized photograph? How did you approach it and what tips would you share?