How to Turn Photos Into Paintings for Easy House Portrait Art

Adding this on to the long list of favorite ways to add fuzzy, warm sentimental feelings to walls. It’s always a good time to get a dose of fuzzy feel-goods, right?

I’d been meaning to do this little project for a couple of years and finally just got around to it… turning photos of our current house and previous house into framed paintings.

How to Turn Photos into Paintings | How to use a free app to transform any photo into a work of art that looks like a watercolor or oil painting.

Related: The Secret to Find Free Printable Wall Art Online

How to Transform a House Photo Into Art

I learned about this app called Waterlogue a while back. So I thought I’d give it a shot.

We have a “thing” for house portraits around here since we framed my and Robert’s childhood homes beside our front door.

Related: 28 Creative DIY Wall Decor Ideas for Your Blank Walls

How to Turn Photos into Paintings | How to use a free app to transform any photo into a work of art that looks like a watercolor or oil painting.

Related: Antique Painting Mural Wallpaper Reveal

Where to Commission an Artist for a House Portrait

We had these two pieces of our childhood homes commissioned by artists, but I thought it would be fun to find a free version to quickly convert photos I’d taken of our own houses we’ve lived in since we got married.

Apps, of course, can never replace the quality and charm of real artists’ work. So I still highly encourage you to commission one, as it is so much more special receiving a custom piece of art made by someone else’s very talented hands.

They make the absolute sweetest housewarming and wedding gifts!

Favorite Artists for Commissioned House Portraits

These are some of my favorite house portrait artists you can hire yourself.

How to Turn Photos into Paintings | How to use a free app to transform any photo into a work of art that looks like a watercolor or oil painting.

We thought it would be sweet to frame our last house and our current house adjacent to our childhood homes in our little foyer hallway underneath our stairs.

Related: Mistakes Most People Make When Hanging Picture Frames

How to Turn Photos into Paintings | How to use a free app to transform any photo into a work of art that looks like a watercolor or oil painting.

How to Turn Photos into Paintings | How to use a free app to transform any photo into a work of art that looks like a watercolor or oil painting.

Related: How to Hang a Gallery Wall Perfectly Every Time

How to Make Custom House Portraits in Minutes

It was totally free to upload the photos I took into the Waterlogue app and play with the different watercolor looks until I found one I liked.

I only used the free trial version of Waterlogue. It’s hard to see at first glance, but the option is there. Set up the free trial, make your art, and then immediately cancel it after you have downloaded the art file before you’re charged for it.

Photo to Art Apps

I did some digging and found several other great apps to help you turn your photos into art. Some have oil painting effects, some watercolor, and some etchings, so play around with the different styles to find the type of medium you prefer.

They’re great for turning family photos into different art mediums too! With the rise of AI these days, it’s become so easy and the quality of some of these apps results in beautiful art pieces.

I snapped this photo of our house the summer of 2018 when the grass and trees were lush and green.

How to Turn Photos into Paintings | How to use a free app to transform any photo into a work of art that looks like a watercolor or oil painting.

And I took this shot of our last house just a few weeks before we moved.

How to Turn Photos into Paintings | How to use a free app to transform any photo into a work of art that looks like a watercolor or oil painting.

How to Print House Portraits

I often print art from MPix.com. I find they’re reasonably priced and the quality is good. For more high-end luxury art quality, I like having art printed from

Related: Where to Buy Vintage Art Online and How to Print Digital Art

Just for fun, I played around with photos of flowers I took too, and I might print them from our home printer and frame them in a few spots around our house.

Yay for cheap art! And entertainment! I’ll take anything at this point. 😉

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How to Turn Photos into Paintings | How to use a free app to transform any photo into a work of art that looks like a watercolor or oil painting.

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33 Comments

  1. Lauren, this looks like so much fun! even for just one photo, it’s worth the $4.99 price! Thanks, I might just have to do this!

  2. Very nice Lauren👏👏( By the way, I couldn’t help but notice, I’m like you, after painting my house on the inside, I still need to put some of the electrical switches covers back 🤗) Your pictures are so realistic, excellent job as always👏🤗🤗😍

  3. I did this with the homes we have lived in. However, I love the watecoloring much-much better. Thanks for sharing. I love how yours turned out. You never disappoint! Stay safe and healthy.