Safe decorating is an international issue, it seems: gray and beige upholstery, a signal lack of patterns to delight the eye, and walls painted 50 shades of white. Even Lima, the capital of Peru, is not immune. “Lots of white, very light, modern, that kind of thing” is how Bettina Iolas, a Lima native, describes the aesthetic status quo. She subscribed to it as well for many years, before embracing chromatic change. “One day, I was going around my house, and all I saw was gray and beige,” she recalls. “And I decided I needed more color in my life.” Which explains why she flew to New York City one day and had lunch with a friend, the decorator, stylist, and writer Carlos Mota, whose most recent book, G: Forever Green (Vendome), tells you all you need to know about his taste. Green is one of his favorite colors, along with purple and pink. (But fans of his style know that he also loves yellow, blue, red, orange, and much more, as long as the tones are clear and the
values are vivid.)
Iolas wanted to refresh her longtime digs, and though she was a bit fearful of taking that step, she was swept up by Mota’s enthusiasm. Soon, they were examining the property and pondering how to make it sing. Constructed decades ago by Theodor Cron (“a really amazing architect,” Iolas says), a Swiss-Peruvian modernist and an admirer of the buildings of Le Corbusier, the structure, centered around a courtyard, was originally low, lean, and rectilinear. But by the time Iolas and her former husband took up residence as newlyweds in 1990, a previous owner had tacked on an unfortunate second floor.
“It kind of ruined the house,” Iolas recalls. Mario Lara, another well-known Peruvian architect, was called in to come up with a solution, and he replaced the offending upper level with a more complementary one that would accommodate a growing family; he also added an inviting pool off the ground-floor terrace. The interiors emphasized the modernity, too, meaning a largely no-color palette and a decor that deferred to the architecture but never really took flight. “I changed my dining room four times,” Iolas admits. With Mota as Pied Piper, Iolas’s surroundings began to bloom. “Freedom, happiness, and sunlight—that’s what she needed,” the designer says, noting that, initially, his brief was merely to warm up the sterile professional-quality kitchen. Swiftly, the project expanded to include a hallway, and ultimately the entire house was placed at Mota’s disposal. “Once we combined three rooms to become a huge living room, what was a small project became a big one,” the designer says.
Adds Iolas, “Family-wise, the house had become entirely mine. My daughter lives in the United States, so this place had to work in a different way. No more playroom, no more gym for the kids, and the TV room would be just for me. I told Carlitos that I needed new energy, new vibes.”