This Ohio House for Sale Has So Many Ceiling Murals

You never truly know what the condition of the walls will be inside a house for sale, as evidenced by one charming Cape Cod for sale in Akron, Ohio. From the outside, this picture-perfect three-bedroom home appears to have tons of character, but the inside is something of a private art museum.

Before even peeking through the listing photos, it’s clear that this isn’t your average home for sale. “Art is the distilled essence of the human soul,” reads the listing. “Some merely sip at the intoxicating brew of creativity, others merely sate their thirst, but for a few, creativity flows like an unending stream, painting the canvas of our world with strokes of brilliance that endure on walls and canvases, across wood and stone, upon floors and ceilings.”

From there, the listing includes a full story about the elaborate artwork adorning the walls and ceilings of every room in the house. “Nestled within the humble confines of a brick-and-mortar Cape Cod dwelling, a man was bestowed a canvas to express the vivid tableau of his soul,” it reads. “With eyes gleaming with mischief and anticipation, he embarked on a quest to infuse this home, already brimming with unique features, with an added dimension of enchantment, whimsy, and the extraordinary.”

The artwork was hand-painted by the late Ralph Herzog, a muralist who spent upwards of a decade creating a unique masterpiece in every space of the home, which was owned by Donald Nichols, prior to his death, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. The pair both had a shared interest in music, antiques, and the arts, so they struck up a friendship, with Nichols commissioning Herzog to create murals throughout the home for years before his death in 2020.

Nichols died in 2022, leaving the unique home to his two children. When they were ready to put it on the market, a real estate broker suggested that they paint over the artwork to make it easier to sell, but it was too personal for them to consider doing so. “It’s time for someone else to love the home and appreciate it,” Nichols’ son Carl told the outlet.

A family friend (and their current real estate agent) suggested the duo preserve the home’s most special features, including stained-glass doors and century-old wooden floors that their dad salvaged from a church being torn down near his childhood home in West Virginia.