After being recommended by former clients, designer Stephen Sousa was recruited by Mija co-owner Charlie Larner to design an upscale yet rustic Mexican restaurant located in Boston’s historical Faneuil Hall Marketplace. Sousa, who has specialized in hospitality design in the Boston area for more than 10 years, wanted the space to evoke the feeling of an authentic tequila cantina.

The existing space was an aluminum greenhouse covered in a sea of red brick that was once home to Cheers’ Sam’s Café. This created a challenge for Sousa, whose major design goal was to create a warm, comfortable atmosphere that made it impossible for diners to imagine its previous identity. “[We wanted to create] an experience that is different than the brick and granite expression of Faneuil Hall,” explains Sousa, founder of local firm Sousa Design Architects. “Weathered wood on the interior and particularly on the ceiling of the greenhouse immediately conveys that guests are entering a different venue, which is striving to achieve a rustic, monochromatic desert palette.”

Fencing that once shielded snow from Wyoming highways now makes up the wood slatted ceiling, tables and the bar are covered in re-purposed oak, and light fixtures have an aged patina. The choice to go with a sun-bleached look with different shades of gray and black hues in the furniture, walls, and ceiling gives the impression that the restaurant has been a long-standing Boston fixture. To complete the warm, been-there-forever feel, lighting comes in the form of candelabra light fixtures and backlighting both over and behind the bar, and an assortment of seating options, all designed by Sousa Design Architects, includes leather-backed stools at the bar, tufted leather booths, and a communal dining table with contrasting chairs.