Break open the wall of an old house, and the first things you ever kept are still in there, glowing.

This cozy wall art, Reliquary of First Saves, is a photo-real cutaway of a two-story house whose plaster wall has crumbled away to reveal warmly lit rooms, a shelf packed with small labeled boxes and a long glowing corridor, made for anyone who holds on to their first favorite things. Made on a sturdy matte sheet, it is a fond gift for the person in your life who never throws a treasured thing away.

The design: a two-story house with its wall broken open

You are looking into a building as if someone had sliced it open like a dollhouse. A thick wall of gray plaster has crumbled away on a diagonal, from the lower left to the upper right, and every broken edge glows warm orange, as though the light inside were leaking out through the cracks. Behind the break, two floors of rooms sit in amber light against a plain gray backdrop.

Upstairs, a tall dark-wood shelf fills the left side, packed from top to bottom with small upright boxes and cases wearing ornate cream, red, yellow and green labels, a few bottles and a stack of flat dark boxes. A warm light strip traces the ceiling. To the right, a pale cream wall with fine cracks opens through a set of nested wooden door frames onto a small framed picture on the far wall, and a narrow shelf at the edge holds more labeled boxes and two small gray boxy devices, stacked like old tape-deck or radio parts.

Downstairs, a table lamp glows on a little wooden nightstand against a textured amber wall, and a thick closed book rests on a low wooden stool beside a doorway into a paler room. On the right, a long lit corridor runs back through a row of wooden door frames, and the rubble where the wall gave way glows like embers.

The name carries the idea: a reliquary is a place made to keep precious things safe, and first saves are the moments you made sure never to lose. Here that place is a whole house, quiet and warm, with no people, no printed words and no logos, just shelves, doors, a book and a lamp left on. The palette is warm amber, gold and orange light, dark wood, cream walls and cool concrete gray, with small pops of red, yellow and green along the shelf.

Thick matte paper for warm light and crisp plaster texture

• Sixteen sizes in total: squares of 10″×10″ (25.4 × 25.4 cm) through 18″×18″ (45.7 × 45.7 cm), five in all, plus eleven portrait sizes starting at 5″×7″ (12.7 × 17.8 cm) and reaching 24″×36″ (61.0 × 91.4 cm), A2 (16.5″×23.3″, 41.9 × 59.2 cm) and A1 (23.3″×33.1″, 59.2 × 84.1 cm) included
• Enhanced Matte Paper, 189 g/m² and 10.3 mil thick, with a flat surface that keeps glare off the glowing crack and the dark shelf
• 94% opacity, so the wall behind the print never shows through the gray plaster
• 104% ISO brightness for clean cream walls and bright amber light
• Paper sourced from Japan
• Frame not included; your cozy wall art is printed on demand once you place your order

Who it's for

Book lovers, keepers of little things, players who still remember their first favorites, and anyone drawn to dollhouses, miniatures and cozy old architecture. It suits a reading nook, a home library, a hallway, a bedroom or a calm corner of a game room, and makes a warm present for a housewarming, a birthday, a first home or a newly filled bookcase.

Quick answers

Are the boxes on the shelf video games?

That is left to your imagination. The shelf holds small labeled boxes and cases that could be games, tins or tiny books, but no cartridge, console or title can be picked out, and the labels carry no readable words.

Is it a 3D model?

No. It looks like a photo of a miniature cutaway model, but it is a flat printed poster: the rough plaster, the cracks and the glowing edges are all part of the image, so there is nothing raised to dust.

Is it a spooky abandoned-house scene?

No. The broken wall glows warm rather than dark, the rooms are tidy and lit, and nothing threatening appears. It reads as cozy and a little mysterious, like opening a forgotten door in an old house.

Do the square sizes show more of the house?

Yes. The square sizes take in the whole cutaway, from the far-left broken edge to the plaster climbing into the top right corner. Portrait sizes trim both outer edges, and the tallest narrow the corridor; both floors, the shelf, the lamp and the book appear on every size.

Which size suits a reading nook or hallway?

Beside a reading chair, 16″×20″ (40.6 × 50.8 cm) or 18″×24″ (45.7 × 61.0 cm) lets you make out the boxes on the shelf. In a narrow hallway, 12″×18″ (30.5 × 45.7 cm) fits well, and a 14″×14″ (35.6 × 35.6 cm) square sits nicely on a bookcase.

Shipping and returns

Free US shipping. US delivery usually 5–12 business days. Easy 30-day returns.

Size guide