{"id":454761,"date":"2026-02-07T16:25:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T16:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/454761\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T16:25:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T16:25:14","slug":"this-downtown-new-york-townhouse-uses-color-in-unexpected-ways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/454761\/","title":{"rendered":"This Downtown New York Townhouse Uses Color in Unexpected Ways"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Estimated3 min read<\/p>\n

Above: The kitchen is painted in Farrow & Ball\u2019s Eating Room Red (No. 43). Custom designed stools by Studio Sof\u00eda Beas. <\/p>\n

When Sof\u00eda Beas launched her design firm, Studio Sofia Beas<\/a>, in 2020, she assumed it would take time for her business to grow. It wasn\u2019t that she lacked experience\u2014she had previously spent nearly five years at Studio Giancarlo Valle, rising from senior designer to design director, where she oversaw residential projects in New York, Toronto, and Mexico City. Before that, she had worked in hospitality, on film sets, and as a graphic designer in her native Mexico; her multifaceted approach to design had served her well. Perhaps too well. When potential clients heard that she was venturing out on her own, she was busier than ever. \u201cI thought I was going to leave the studio and slow the pace a bit, and it actually was the opposite,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Her first major solo project was the renovation of a six-floor townhouse in downtown Manhattan. The owners, a young couple from Massachusetts working in tech, found Beas through friends of friends. At the trio\u2019s first meeting, a spirited conversation ensued over color, materials, and light, which is just how the designer likes it. \u201cI’m not interested in projects where it’s either us saying, \u2018we’re the experts, and this is what we’re going to do,\u2019 or the client says, \u2018I\u2019m hiring you to execute my vision,\u2019\u201d says Beas. \u201cI like it when the clients are really open to an exchange of ideas. I want them to collaborate on the process. You can tell from very early on when they have the curiosity to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DiningWilliam Jess Laird<\/p>\n

The dining area with vintage chairs by Josef Hoffman and a vintage table by Ernesto Valabrega circa 1935.<\/p>\n

Since the couple likes to host and entertain, the directive for the property was to make it feel welcoming, fun, and expressive. The space, which was initially painted in cold neutral tones, was given a colorful upgrade. With Beas\u2019s encouragement, the couple settled on a dark-red kitchen. The foyer leading to the main bedroom is now a light pistachio, and the library a saturated yellow. The basement, an at-home cinema replete with a high-tech film projector that serves as the room’s centerpiece, was doused in a forest-green that verges on black.<\/p>\n

Aside from adding built-in shelving in the library, the townhouse didn\u2019t require much in the way of renovations, but Beas’s personalized handiwork is evident throughout. She produced custom furniture including a sturdy new desk, and a variety of wooden stools that were made locally in New York. Additional pieces by Enzo Mari, Max Lamb, and David Horan also fill the space, as do vintage flea market finds. When it came to lining the walls with art, Beas advised on that as well, sourcing pieces from the nearby Kurimanzutto gallery in Chelsea.<\/p>\n

\"UrbanWilliam Jess Laird<\/p>\n

A view from the roof.<\/p>\n

Beas\u2019s enthusiasm for color and architectural design is rooted in her upbringing. She grew up in Guadalajara, in a house designed by Andr\u00e8s Casillas de Alba, a disciple and close collaborator of renowned architect Luis Barrag\u00e1n, who remains an eternal inspiration for Beas.<\/p>\n

Her success in New York has brought her back home, and she has multiple projects now underway in and around Mexico City. The NYC-CDMX connection delights Beas to no end; not only does Mexico offer larger homes to reimagine, but she can also tap into the country\u2019s broad network of artisans and showcase their work to a whole new audience. (A particularly impressive example is a large volcanic rock sink that she commissioned while she was still working with Valle.)<\/p>\n

See Inside This Colorful New York Townhouse\"ModernOpen Gallery\"\"<\/p>\n

And while the work speaks for itself, Beas\u2019s warm and open demeanor is certainly part of her draw. Her most recent project, a house in Valle de Bravo, several hours west of Mexico City, came to her following a random cigarette break with a stranger in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Months after that brief encounter, Beas was contacted by the acquaintance’s friends; they had heard she was cool and wanted to work together. With this kind of connective energy and creativity, one can only expect Beas\u2019s client roster to grow exponentially in the years to come.
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\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Sarah Cristobal is a writer, editor, and creative consultant. She is currently editor-at-large for 10 Magazine USA, among other freelance projects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"3 min read Above: The kitchen is painted in Farrow & Ball\u2019s Eating Room Red (No. 43). Custom…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,212755,1240,212753,229,874,88,873,212752,212754],"class_list":{"0":"post-454761","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-collection-exclusive-house-tours","12":"tag-content-type-feature","13":"tag-contentid-91316e33-fa81-4ccf-b610-9156bb69633b","14":"tag-design","15":"tag-displaytype-standard-article","16":"tag-entertainment","17":"tag-locale-us","18":"tag-shorttitle-a-new-york-townhouse-gets-a-colorful-upgrade","19":"tag-subsection-house-tours"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}