Decide whether a house picture suits them
A personal photograph can be meaningful when the recipient likes the idea and has a use for the finished item. Ask about their taste, wall space or preferred everyday format. It need not be a large or framed gift, and a ready-made piece or practical present can be just as welcome.
The House Illustration From £19.99 Their own front door, drawn from one photograph. The watermarked preview is free, so you see it before you pay.
What you personalise
The image comes from your own photograph of the building. This photo flow doesn't add a typed name, date or message. If you want a message to accompany it, see new-home card wording. Different people can choose the same house as a subject, so coordinate group gifts if you want to avoid duplicates.
The house is the personal part
The personal part is the house itself: a print, canvas or mug made from your photograph. It suits someone who'd like their building pictured and has somewhere to put it. If it's a personalised housewarming gift, leave time for the making: everything is printed to order, so check the delivery times against the date of the party.
New home photo gifts
Every new home photo gift here starts with one photograph of the front of the house, taken in daylight. The same picture goes on a print, a framed print, a canvas, a metal or wood print, a mug or a water bottle, or comes to you as a digital file. The bigger sizes need a sharper photo, so how large you can go depends on the photo you send. Keep the picture as it is, or have it made into an illustration.
Choose the original photograph or an AI style
Direct photo printing keeps your original picture. The optional AI studio offers illustration styles and three successful previews per verified client per day. Choose your preferred preview before proceeding. AI may alter fine details, lettering or proportions: inspect the building and the print crop before approving it.
For either route, confirm that you own the image or have permission to transform and reproduce it. A clear picture with the important parts of the building visible gives you more choice about the crop.
Compare a few visual directions
Line and blueprint treatments emphasise outlines; watercolour and pen-and-wash treatments give a painted-style look. Ink, screen-print, evening-light and charcoal options offer other contrasts and textures. Use the recipient's preferences to choose a starting point. A style name alone can't tell you how every house will look. House illustration from your photo goes through all eight and says which read as a line drawing or a sketch.
What the personalisation costs
Sending us your own photograph of the house costs nothing extra: it's printed as it is, at the same price as our ready-made pictures. Having us make the illustration costs a little more, because you choose and approve the artwork before anything is printed. Every product page shows the exact price for each size, so nothing here needs working out in your head.
With an illustration, you see it before you pay, so the decision is not a gamble. The question is only whether the house looks better as itself or as a picture of itself, and for a modern house the answer is often the photograph.
- Unframed print, as a photograph or illustrated.
- Framed print, as a photograph or illustrated.
- Canvas, as a photograph or illustrated.
- Mug, as a photograph or illustrated.
More help choosing
All the guides are together on the gift guides page. Explore first-home gifts, general new-home ideas, gifts during a move or ideas for him. For a party, see housewarming gifts, or return to the gift guides.