Late last year, for the first time in more than two decades, artist Melanie Taylor Kent revisited the California property that she once owned, filling it with whimsical features like a stage in the living room and stained-glass windows of Cinderella and Pinocchio.
The occasion?
Jerome Murray and his husband, Jason Murray, who have owned the home for about a decade, had given Kent a tour after listing it earlier in the year for $16.75 million.
"I just loved it," said Kent. "My son came with me with his kids. So, he got to see where he used to put on plays on the stage, which encouraged him to be a drama major at UCLA."
"I call it 'Snow White's cottage on steroids,'" said Jerome, who founded and sold a Los Angeles-based software company. The Murrays took the property off the market because demand following the Los Angeles wildfires was slow. They have now relisted it for $15.45 million.
The roughly 15,200-square-foot home is in the gated community of Island Forest, which is located in Ventura County's Westlake Village and around 40 miles from Downtown Los Angeles. Its curvy roof and English timber architecture give it a "fantasyland" aesthetic, said Kent, whose love for Disney inspired her to design the property as "the second-happiest place on Earth."
Raised in the Los Angeles area, Kent specializes in serigraphy, or fine-art screen printing, and is known for her pieces depicting American celebrations and pop-culture milestones. She said her most famous piece is "Mickey Mouse's 60th Birthday," which she created for The Walt Disney Company.
In 1989, Kent bought this roughly 1.5-acre lot with her then-husband and manager, Robert Kent, for roughly $350,000, she said. They spent around three years constructing and designing the home with friends, including some who worked at Walt Disney Imagineering, the design and development arm of the company.
Upper windows are scaled progressively smaller to create an illusion of height, while multiple interior balconies overlook the living spaces, including a living room that has a castle-like fireplace inspired by a design she saw in one of Michael Jackson's Los Angeles homes. Outside, a Disney World-inspired lazy river winds into a pool with a waterfall and slide.
Kent said she and Robert sold the home in 2000.
The Murrays purchased the home in 2017 for around $3.8 million and spent around $10 million to remodel and expand it over two years. He said he isn't a serious Disney fan but appreciates the home's Disney aesthetic and charm. Mirroring the main house's aesthetic, Jerome added a poolhouse with a stone facade and curved roof.
He also added a walk-in wine cellar and an elevator, and expanded the area off the kitchen, which he calls the sunroom.
"I built it, and he enhanced it," said Kent. "I'm just really lucky that a man bought it who has imagination and took it to the next level."
Jerome said he and Jason are selling the home because after selling his company in 2023, they began spending more time in Texas, where they own another property.
The home is the only one for sale in Island Forest, which has 12 homes, according to listing agents Emil Hartoonian and Gina Michelle with The Agency. If it sells at or near the asking price, it will set a record for Westlake Village. The current record for Westlake Village is $13.5 million, according to Zillow.