Bedroom Comes Out of the Closet in Work of Art

Selling points: Room for a giant walk-in closet and an art studio

Location: Laguna Niguel

Asking price: $539,900

Status: For sale

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Ron Cohan wanted to have one of the largest closets in Orange County, so he had one of the four bedrooms of his 3,000-square-foot home converted into a spacious storage area.

“I was tired of living in little cubbyholes, and when I moved here [10 years ago], I was determined to have a large closet,” Cohan says. “I mean, homes have walk-in closets, but they don’t have big closets.”

The space turned out to have a second benefit: It was a key selling point when he proposed to the woman who is now his wife. The closet, he recalls, “was bigger than her whole apartment.”

Lee and Ron Cohan have since converted the closet back into a bedroom to better market their house. “I’ve found over the last couple of weeks that people don’t like it as much as I do,” Cohan says. “It was nice while it lasted.”

Lee Cohan says she will miss another special room: a spacious second-floor family room that she transformed into an art studio.

She paints realistic portraits with an unusual interpretation--her subjects are shown without heads. Lee’s paintings have been a bit of a distraction for potential buyers of the home.

“We’ve been showing the house, and the people get so engrossed in the paintings and they forget to look at the house and have to make second appointments to get another look,” Ron said. “We’ve had more comments on the paintings than the house. Maybe we should take them down.”

The home is five minutes from the beach and walking distance to an elementary school.

“We just want a change of scenery,” Ron says. “After a few years in the same place, you just want something new.”

The couple will look for another home in the same neighborhood, however. “It’s beautiful here. It’s got lots of good energy, and it’s a wonderful neighborhood.”

Information: (949) 580-5206