See Inside Mindy Kaling's New Home in Los Angeles and Find Out Why She's 'Too Afraid to Go Upstairs'

"It's a little Wes Anderson," the actress says of her bright new abode

Photo: Floto+Warner, Courtesy Architectural Digest

Change can be scary — just ask Mindy Kaling.

“I’ve lived in L.A. for 15 years and I’ve never had a second floor,” the Mindy Project star tells Architectural Digest. “Now I do and it’s a little frightening. I’ll watch a murder documentary on Netflix, and I’m too afraid to go upstairs. There have been two nights that I’ve slept on the couch downstairs.”

The actress, 38, played the long game when it came to her neighborhood, admiring the historic area from afar before finally scoring in an off-market deal.

Floto+Warner, Courtesy Architectural Digest

“I was specific about Hanckock Park,” she says. “It’s one of these places that no one ever leaves. I fell in love with three houses, but I kept losing to these Chinese billionaires who were paying in all cash. I wish I were an Indian billionaire.”

Although she picked up the pad about ten months ago, Kaling has only lived in the house for about six weeks, as she and interior designer Katie Ridder — who Kaling found on social media — went to work renovating and decorating the space so it was well-suited for both work and play.

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Floto+Warner, Courtesy Architectural Digest

“Mindy wanted to be able to seat a lot of people and have an open floor plan,” Ridder says. “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.”

Bright colors, pops of pattern (like the living area’s Ferrick Mason Fiddle Leaf Fig–print curtains) and plenty of personality complement both the original 1920s details and Kaling’s film-inspired aesthetic.

“It’s a little Wes Anderson,” Kaling says. “It’s how layered it looks—he’s very conscious and he’s very generous with the colors in his palette.”