Elevated Bohemia Shapes This Rustic Home’s Interiors

The vibe is casual. “I like a house full of friends, kids and al fresco meals.” | Photo: Audrey Hall

The log house has the feel of a homestead, despite its 1980s provenance. Tucked out of site from the unpaved road that follows the river and built with a sheltering berm on its backside, it faces a broad open meadow sloping down to the Yellowstone River. The views are long-ranging—in the distance, behind the tops of the cottonwoods, are the distinctive sharp peaks of the Absaroka-Beartooth Mountains. Fiona West immediately saw its potential.

“The house wasn’t very pretty, and it had a lot of red roofing,” she recalls. “But the volumes were great, and the property had so much going for it: river frontage, amazing views, lots of acreage, and it was 15 minutes from town. I loved the big main space in the center; I loved the fact there was a guest cabin for friends and family and lots of trees. When you spend time in Montana, you know those are important features. I thought, if I tackled this in a smart way, little by little, I could transform this place.”

Paris native Fiona West is president of the French textile company Pierre Frey. In decorating her Montana home, she says, “I wanted to work with the warm tones yet break the wood-cabin feel.” | Photo: Audrey Hall

Given that the well-traveled corporate executive is a native Parisian, her journey to Livingston, Montana, might seem unlikely.  West has, however, made it her home, feathering her nest along the way with mementos of her past, along with thrifted, new and reupholstered furniture, and carefully curated objets. The result is an atmosphere of “high/low” with a dash of “French Bohemia in the Mountains.”

The living room combines art from her friend Nina Johnson’s Miami gallery with cowboy hats, an Apparatus lighting fixture and a table made from an Indonesian bed. “The Pierre Frey rug makes this room,” says West. | Photo: Audrey Hall

The main gathering space is a generous room with the kitchen anchoring the back wall and windows looking toward the river. West was charmed by the river-rock detailing complete with embedded deer antlers in the corners. She preserved that quirky bit of history but tore out the carpet and added the wood floor—the original flooring was tile covered in no-longer-white carpet.

She painted the ceiling white and redesigned the kitchen, removing upper cabinets, installing white beadboard, and adding a woodblock countertop and a marble-topped island. She reconfigured bathrooms, added a mudroom, and applied her unique touch to every room in the house and guest cabin.

Fiona West, at home in the West. | Photo: Audrey Hall

West’s furnishings are a blend of antiques, family heirlooms and some thrifted pieces mixed with art brought from France, where she was raised among artists, plus newer works by Montana artists. But in her role as president of the renowned luxury textile and furnishings company La Maison Pierre Frey, it is her use of Pierre Frey fabrics, rugs and wallcoverings—some of which she has collected and saved for years—that really sets the interiors apart.

These textiles add layers of texture and history as they lean into a European-influenced country aesthetic. They also inject unexpected color and energy into the wood-dominated rooms—particularly happiness-inducing during Montana’s long winters.

West’s land extends to the Yellowstone River with views to the Beartooth-Absarokas. | Photo: Audrey Hall

Patrick Frey, the creative director and president emeritus of La Maison Pierre Frey, is all for the unexpected placement of his company’s products. “Creating means being bold,“ Frey says.

This is demonstrated the moment one enters West’s living room, where a Pierre Frey rug designed by Heather Chontos—an American living in the south of France—features vibrant colors against a white background (in itself a bold move, given the preponderance of muddy boots in Montana). “We have a long history of working with artists,” explains Frey, “and Heather’s work is so colorful and joyful. We made this one in fabric as well as a rug and named it ‘La Toile du Peintre, The Painter’s Canvas.’”

In the kitchen, white beadboard with a continuous open shelf pairs with wood countertops, floors and walls. The dishes are by Montana ceramicist Steve Degenhart; the bison artwork is by Audrey Hall. | Photo:

In a secondary bedroom hang curtains that West made from a favorite fabric; it features life-size figures of traditionally garbed African women in deep hues of red, purple and green. The design was commissioned from artist Noëmie Vallerand. Frey recalls, “She came to me with some of her designs to propose for fabrics or wallpapers.

When showing me her sketches, she took out her notebook to take notes, and these small sketches immediately caught my eye. They were her personal sketches just for fun, but I immediately knew I wanted to use them.”

The 1980s log home had the feel of a homestead with a sheltering berm behind and sweeping views to the mountains. West kept original details like the river rock with antler-embedded corners. | Photo: Audrey Hall

In its work, Pierre Frey balances the old and the new. The company makes use of modern technology to implement efficiencies, but without ever compromising the authenticity of a historic design or an artist’s work.

Photo: Audrey Hall

In a similar vein, West’s approach to interior design is to combine historic, collectible and contemporary pieces. This gives each space life and personality, while also ensuring they are joy-filled and deeply personal.

“I love eclecticism,” says West. “And I love using fabrics and wallpapers that I’ve collected over the years. I’ve dared to mix it all up, and the result is fun and colorful.” She adds, “My philosophy is to not worry too much about whether things go together. I trust that if I like it, it will come together.” 

Color abounds in the guest room, where curtains made from hand-embroidered Pierre Frey fabric feature colorfully garmented African women. | Photo: Audrey Hall

FRENCH ACCENT

At La Maison Pierre Frey, each product is accompanied by a narrative that details its historic and cultural influences and highlights the artistry of the workmanship. Creative Director Patrick Frey, son of the company’s founder, believes that the process deepens the emotional connection and reinforces the value of time-honored techniques. There’s a story behind the mural-like wallpaper in Fiona West’s Montana bedroom, as Frey explains:

“This wallcovering, Au Bord du Lac, is an adaptation of an old tapestry found from an antiques dealer. The original tapestry is small and quite faded. We knew we wanted to enlarge it, which made some details fade even more. We repainted just enough to revive the colors, to give the birds their eyes back, give the castle in the distance a little more definition, while still preserving its authenticity. It is printed on an irregular textured ground to keep the tapestry spirit. And because we found it so charming we made it as a fabric, too, printed on cotton.”

DESIGN DETAILS

CONSTRUCTION – Coyote Contracting
INTERIOR DESIGN – Fiona West

As featured in Mountain Living’s September/October 2026 issue.