Even the rich and famous get outbid in this town. Actress and The Mindy Project creator Mindy Kaling put in offers on three houses in stately Hancock Park and lost out each time to “Chinese billionaires who were paying in all cash,” she tells Architectural Digest.

But she managed to act fast on a pocket-listed 1920s-era house, purchasing it and getting right to work on 10 months of renovating and redecorating with the help of interior designer Katie Ridder. The designer is known for her fearless and sophisticated approach to color.

I gave @archdigest a tour of my new home, designed by the great @katieridderinc. This is my study, my favorite room. A post shared by Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling) on Jul 12, 2017 at 11:49am PDT

“She wanted it to be happy. She wanted it to be warm,” Ridder tells AD. "You see the way she dresses on [The Mindy Project]. She didn’t want bleached floors. She didn’t want everything whitewashed or stripped down. She wanted a lot of layering."

The resulting warm and colorful home features rosewood furniture passed down from Mindy’s parents and reupholstered with modern Swedish fabric; bold wallpaper in a pink pineapple print; and a mirrored mantel in the study (“my favorite room,” Kaling writes on her Instagram).

Practically, Kaling also needed the ability to seat a lot of people in her house. “Her writers, they spend a lot of time together, and she needed areas where they could write together, watch shows together, eat together—and swim together,” Ridder says.

The dining room table that seats 12, the well-appointed television room, and the spacious yard and pool pavilion all allow for Kaling to host her writing team as well as nurture her nascent hostess skills.

Kaling maintains a New York apartment that also underwent a recent refresh.