- Big, bold and eccentric, murals immediately command a buyer’s attention
- One owner tells us how uncovering an old mural clinched his house purchase
- But they aren’t for everyone and can put some potential buyers off
There is something special about murals.
Unlike canvas paintings or framed images, they are so big, bold and eccentric that they immediately command attention in any room. Sometimes they can even secure a house sale.
That was the case for retired businessman Gary Keeley when, 25 years ago, he first set foot in Byeballs Farm at Tindon End, Saffron Walden.
‘I was looking for a renovation project but nothing like this,’ says Gary, 59.
‘There were brambles growing over the roof, weeds were poking through the floors and the moat was completely dry.’
Gary was on the point of turning his back on the wreck of a house when something caught his eye.
In the shadows of the drawing room he made out the faint colouring of some flowery, decorative, medieval murals.
‘They fascinated me and what really clinched it were the initials ‘S’ and ‘G’ on the work,’ says Gary.
‘My wife is Sharon; I am Gary so they were also our initials. It seemed like fate that we should own the house.’
Gary then spent two years restoring and reconfiguring the layout of the house, adding bathrooms.
With 2.5 acres of land, an orchard, heated pool, gym and party barn, Byeballs Farm is now for sale with Cheffins, priced £1.75million.
Classical origins
Murals date back to the Paleolithic period; the Romans used them extensively and they remain popular today, when a newly discovered Banksy will be front page news.
Tess Newall is one of the most sought-after mural artists in the country, before which she painted and decorated film sets.
‘Hand-painting adds charm and texture to a room,’ says Tess, who worked on the film Vita & Virginia about the Bloomsbury Group.
‘There is something magic about seeing brushstrokes knowing a person has painted it. Wallpaper has awkward joins whereas a mural celebrates the shape of a room.’
Murals are often used to create a sense of space. The opera set designer and artist John Pascoe did just that in his studio in a Victorian house in Islington, North London, where he created a mural that wrapped around the whole room, adding beams of sunlight to monuments, trees and lakes, making the room a kind of extension of nearby Clissold Park.
‘I believe that nature has an incredible power to enhance our well-being,’ says John who put the studio on the market last year. ‘I hope that I have created a slice of tranquility in the city.’
For your own slice of tranquility Joanna Perry specialises in nature-inspired scenes from Japanese gardens to woodland.
Essentially the best murals are all about deception — they are fun. Modern-day parents often have their children’s nursery walls bedecked with scenes from Disney — Jungle Book is still a favourite — or in Barbie pink.
Birmingham-based Sweetart Murals offers bespoke designs while specialising in children’s and nursery pieces.
Deep down
Bathrooms can be an inspiration. One vendor recently put his house on the market with a mural in his shower room that gave the impression the whole room was under the ocean.
The ceiling depicted the bottom of boats; the sun filtered through on fish swimming around, it was all very realistic.
We’ll miss many things about the house and the murals are top of the list
Sadly, though, many viewers with little children were less than impressed with the naked nymphs. So do be careful as murals can be a selling point but equally a detraction.
‘I recently advised a client with a Sistine-esque mural in the kitchen to paint over it,’ says Ed Jephson of Stacks Property Search.
‘I think a mural is too much an expression of the owner’s interest.’
Others take an inordinate pride in their murals.
‘Whenever we start planning the day we have to move from this house my wife, Sharon, breaks down in tears,’ says Gary Keeley of Byeballs Farm.
‘We’ll miss many things about the house and the murals are top of the list.’
By Sarah Sotoodeh and Shawn Cohen For Dailymail.com
01:01 17 Jan 2024, updated 02:09 17 Jan 2024
Alec Baldwin put his 10,000 square foot Hamptons estate – which sits on 10-acres – back on the market for $19 million, $10 million less than when he put it on the market in September 2022.
Alec, 65, appeared in a video for the home, via the real estate firm Saunders & Associates, in a bid to find a buyer.
The home, located in Amagansett, New York is on the market for $18,995,000.
In September 2022, Alec put the home on the market for $29M, ten times what he paid for in 1996.
Alec is offloading the 10-acre Hamptons estate after he purchased a 55-acre Vermont farmhouse for $1.7M in 2022.
The Hamptons estate has 10,000 square feet, with a pool, spa and covered porches.
The home has seven bedrooms, nine baths and sits on five acres, with five acres of agricultural reserve.
In the video, Alec kicks off the video by walking along the the beach in the Hamptons as he introduced himself.
‘Hey I’m Alec Baldwin, I’ve had a home out here on the East End of Long Island since 1982. When I was younger, we’d come out here and we’d sleep all morning and lay on the beach all day,’ he said.
‘When you’re young this place is the best,’ he added, as he walked around the stunning area.
Alec talked about his first house, which he said was located on Bluff Road in Amagansett.
He rented it for five years before he decided to buy a home there; he bought a cottage for he said ‘seven or eight years.’
Alec moved on to his current home on the market, which he bought in 1995 and made renovations.
‘I put this edition on the Eastern side of the property in 1996 and my wife Hilaria built this edition on the Western side of the property in 2014,’ Alec said, noting that it now totals to 10,000 square feet.
‘I fell in love with this place the moment I came here because its the main family home of the former Potter Farm. The Potter family. You just can’t this out here anymore. You can’t buy big pieces of land especially in Amangansett,’ he said in the video while standing in a field.
‘I’ve always loved it here and we’ve got all this open land here,’ he says as he looks around.
‘I’m always happiest when I come here, especially this time of year. I love it in the winter time because it’s so peaceful and it’s so beautiful,’ Alec said, finishing the video.
Alec’s home is located in the Long Island billionaire enclave, 100 miles from his family’s penthouse in Greenwich Village in New York City.
He bought the Hamptons home in 1996 for $1.75 million; it was built in 1740.
He purchased his New York City penthouse $11.7 million in 2011; he still owns this property.
In addition to the home, there is a pavilion with a fieldstone fireplace overlooking acres of preserve in the city’s estate section.
Alec and Hilaria have seven children together: Carmen Gabriela, 10, Rafael Thomas, eight, Leonardo Angel Charles, seven, Romeo Alejandro David, five, Eduardo ‘Edu’ Pao Lucas, three, Maria Lucia Victoria, two, and Ilaria, one.
He also has a daughter named Ireland, 28, with ex-wife Kim Basinger.
In February 2022, Alec purchased a historic 50-acre farm in Vermont for $1.7 million; the Vermont cottage is nearly 250 years old, built in the 1780s.
The home has 3,600 square feet in the main home and 1800 square feet for the guest cottage, with two baths.
It was previously sold in 2014 for $559,000.
They bought a home in the city of Arlington, which is where Hilaria’s grandfather lived.
Earlier this year, Alec began his publicity rounds for his western Rust.
The Rust production was struck by tragedy in 2021, when cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot dead during rehearsal with a Colt .45 being used as a prop.
The tragedy took place in October 2021.
Alec was holding the gun that went off, but he has publicly denied that he pulled the trigger.
The involuntary manslaughter charges against him have been dropped.
In 2022, her widow Matthew filed a wrongful death lawsuit that accused Alec and other producers.
In April 2023, production resumed on the project, with Bianca Cline replacing Hutchins as the director of photography.