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There’s a saying in France: Make your own sauce. It’s one Fiona West, the native Parisian president of French heritage brand Pierre Frey, lives by. “It means you find your own flavor and adapt to your own set of circumstances,” she says. “This is a concept that has guided my life choices, including the design of the space I live in.”
When the pandemic hit, West headed, well, West. She relocated from Miami to the mountains of Montana, a move she may have been working toward from a young age. While on a trip to Jackson Hole as a teen, West had what she describes as an epiphany moment: “I remember sitting by the Snake River looking at the mountains, crying, thinking I never wanted to leave.”
Fast forward to a booming Montana real estate market, which meant West had to find the potential in limited inventory. She found just that in a 1980s log home, one tucked away on a rural road that winds along the Yellowstone River. While the house read “’80s, with lots of dark wood, carpeting throughout, and a red roof,” it also faced a broad open meadow to a line of cottonwoods that delineate the edge of the river and the mountains, in the distance.
“I thought if I tackled this in a smart way, little by little, I could transform the place into something I would learn to love,” says West.
She addressed the main gathering space first, tearing out the wall-to-wall carpet and replacing it with oak flooring–but keeping the funky river-rock detail with embedded deer antlers around the fireplace. She then reconfigured the bathrooms and also redesigned the kitchen, removing some upper cabinets, installing white beadboard, and adding woodblock countertops. “I try to undertake one significant project a year,” says West.
The furnishings are a blend of antiques, family heirlooms, and significant objects mixed with art from West’s past lives in France and Miami. And, of course, there’s no shortage of Pierre Frey fabrics, wallpapers, and rugs throughout the space, lending much-needed injections of color and whimsy into the wood-dominated rooms.
A self-described fan of eclecticism, West mixed fabrics and wallpapers she’s always loved, not worrying about whether things go well together but rather trusting that if she likes something, the space will come together. And it does.
“In the U.S., there’s an attraction to perfection in interiors,” says West. “And because of what I do–and my exposure to the incredible talent of the designers we work with every day–I had to come to terms with the fact that I am not my clients and had to adjust my choices of materials and the level of detail I wanted to achieve.”
She adds: “I wanted the house to feel welcoming and sophisticated, but really relaxed. So, the white chairs are no longer white and the carpet color is evolving, but I actually love the patina and what it means—a house full of life, constantly changing and evolving.”
The home is aptly described as “France meets the mountains with a dash of Bohemia” in the upcoming book Modern West, which spotlights 15 homes in iconic western settings. And even though West is back to traveling, her life is a decidedly western one, complete with a log cabin, a dog, two barn carts, and six chickens.
“It’s not always easy to juggle the constant movement, motherhood, and being far from my roots, but it’s also a privilege to be somewhere physically and mentally where you feel like you’re in the right place,” she says. “And for now, this place is it for me.”
Here, West shares how it all came together in her own words.
