Like all rainbows, Laura Hollick's 'Rainbow House' will brighten its surroundings and be gone before you know it.

After more than a decade looking at the beat-up house across the street from her art studio on Bay Street North, Hollick said she felt embarrassed and sad for her city.

"I watched it decay. I've been in my studio for twelve years, it was just going down and it made me sad to see something in that state," Hollick said.

She contacted Tony Brucculieri, the owner of Stoney Brook Design Build, who took ownership of the home in September and told him about her idea to turn a run down home into a neighbourhood work of art.

"I thought it was pretty cool idea," Brucculieri said. "It put a smile on everyone's faces."

Hollick painted 44 panels that covered the house and were installed with the help of Brucculieri and his crew. It took about a month.

The Rainbow House before its transition and Laura's idea of what she wanted the house to look like.

"Hamilton originally was a very industrial place. The money that was in the city had to do with a lot of working class, industry-type people. When the industry left a lot of money left and a lot of places became kind of desolate and falling apart and because of that the artists were able to come in where things were cheaper," Hollick said.

She says her project is a way of saying thanks to the city she loves and everything it's done for artists.

"Our whole world is in a state of transformation right now, and there is ugliness in it, and there is potential for beauty," Hollick said.

I love how something small, just one house, can include such a huge message. - Harma Margrieta

The response has been very positive. Hollick's Facebook page has been flooded with comments.

"I love the beauty and simplicity of this art project. I love how something small, just one house, can include such a huge message," said Harma Margrieta on Hollick's Facebook page.

When the time comes for the house to be torn down, the panels will not go down with it. They'll be kept up until Labour Day and then put on display at the Hamilton Public Library.

​Hollick says that when the house goes she won't be sad.

"I'll be thrilled in the fact that the journey continues. It's going to go to the library and something new will start taking shape on that property," Hollick said.