view of the chateau with river — The Beuvron river runs behind the house, where a bridge believed to have been built in the 1920’s provides access to an island.

November 20, 2025

Laura Bohn And Richard Fiore Renovate A Centuries-Old French Château

Half a century into her career as an interior designer, Laura Bohn still loves nothing more than a project with a capital P. The more challenging, the better. When it comes to her own residences, she and her husband of four decades, BFI Construction founder Richard Fiore, have lived primarily in New York, never staying put too long in one place, always eager for the next renovation. They’ve conjured stylish lofts for themselves in former industrial spaces, converted a beaux-arts bank into luxury apartments, moving into a glass-and-steel penthouse extension they built on top, and, just outside the city, updated old farmhouses in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

For those who know Bohn, an Interior Design Hall of Fame member, and Fiore, it’s probably not hard to imagine them in a cherry picker, 25 feet off the ground, ripping thickets of ivy off the facade of a historic château they bought in the French countryside. “What can I say? I’m a designer, my husband’s a builder, and we’ve been doing projects together for a long time,” Bohn says, by way of explaining their decision to uproot and move to the Loire Valley to rehabilitate a château, unoccupied for 40 years, on a 165-acre property with a history going back some ten centuries.

Breathing New Life Into A Storied Home

dining room leading to the living room with provocative photograph — A Julia Calfee photograph, vintage pendant fixtures, and a restored plaster ceiling define a sitting area off the living room in Château Montrion, a 9,000-square-foot historic house in Cellettes, France, that designer Laura Bohn and her husband, BFI Construction founder Richard Fiore, bought and then renovated over the course of four years.

It all started nearly a decade ago, when Bohn read a New York Times article about house-hunting in France that cited a number of châteaus for sale, many at surprisingly modest prices. The story landed like a siren call for Bohn, an avid Francophile who had lived in Paris in her 20s, when she worked as a model before becoming a designer.

So she and Fiore set off for France, traveling around in a van. “We went all over,” Bohn recounts. “We had no idea what we were doing, but it was the adventure of it.” The couple narrowed their focus to the Loire and began working with a French agent, even moving in with him for a time. Ultimately, after all their searching, they wound up buying a property at auction in 2021, sight unseen.

Tranquil Scenery Surrounds This French Château

exterior facade of chateau with greenery — The château, framed here by 300-year-old horse chestnuts, has elements dating to the 12th century.

Château Montrion, as it’s called, is perched on the bucolic banks of the Beuvron, a tributary of the Loire. Nearby are some of the region’s most famous châteaus, including Chambord, Cheverny, and Blois, where there is also a sizable town with shops, restaurants, and a train station, conveniently just a 15-minute drive away.

As Bohn explains, Château Montrion checked several key boxes, not least the fact that the house is a manageable size, at around 9,000 square feet, with rooms that are a comfortable scale. “Some have 20-, 24-foot ceilings, which maybe looks great but doesn’t feel good,” she says. “The rooms here are beautifully proportioned.”

A Poetic Blend Of Past And Present

kitchen area with white tile flooring, hanging lights and patterned ceiling — A pair of Bohn’s beloved old train station lights suspend over a vintage table and chairs in the dining room, where the existing mosaic floor was preserved but the wainscot’s height reduced for a lighter, more open feel.

The first time Bohn and Fiore visited Montrion, its condition was what one would expect of a place that had been boarded up for decades. The iron front gate had been wedged open by creeping tree roots, and the entrance drive’s allée of 300-year-old horse chestnuts was so overgrown that a car could hardly get through. Then there was the dense ivy that cloaked much of the facade, while inside, as Bohn puts it, “The house needed everything.” (During the renovation, the couple lived in a cottage outbuilding attached to a centuries-old stone church on the property.)

Parts of the main house date as far back as the 12th century, with the last renovation taking place in 1921. Needless to say, electricity and other systems required upgrading, all windows and doors had to be replaced, and plaster ceilings and walls needed to be completely redone. Where they could, Bohn and Fiore took a light-handed approach, preserving existing elements.

entry with white brick walls and a peek into the study — The stone-veneer tiles cladding the walls around the entry and upstairs hallway were existing.

In the entrance hall, for example, they did little more than clean up the intricate plaster ceiling and extend the flooring—classic white marble with black cabochons—toward the back of the house, where they ripped out a powder room and added new glass doors so the entire space is splashed with natural light. Bohn inserted her own personal touches, such as a low metal cabinet with glass panels, a vintage piece from India she has owned for years that reflects her “industrial thing,” as she describes her affinity for sleek materials and the pared-down aesthetic she inherited from her early mentor, designer Joseph D’Urso.

For the entry’s lighting, instead of a crystal chandelier—“That would be typical,” she notes—Bohn hung a simple, oversize paper globe. “I think it was 10 euros and reduced to 4,” she says. “It was supposed to be temporary, but I like it so much, I’ll never change it.”

Discover How Laura Bohn Imbues Elegance Into This Home

office study area with brown furnishings, black fireplace and patterned ceiling — In the office, under a vintage canoe Bohn has displayed in multiple homes, an opening to the terrace was cut into the thick stone wall; the leather-and-linen sofas are custom, the large painting by Antonio Morado.

Bohn, who still consults on European projects, enjoys mixing high and low, and she often recycles favorite pieces from previous residences. A vintage turquoise-canvas canoe that she has installed like a wall sculpture in multiple homes—“It’s probably from the ’20’s, I think it’s got a thousand holes in it”—is perched atop a wall of cabinets in the office. The canoe overlooks a pair of beloved gray leather sofas Bohn designed years ago with double fringe, only here she recovered the seat cushions in a chocolatey linen. “I’m taking those wherever I go.”

More long-owned pieces turn up in the living room. There’s the massive, richly patinaed antique medicine cabinet with dozens of drawers and Chinese labels that presides over one corner, as well as the live-edge cocktail table Bohn made using “a giant piece of redwood that a friend in Wisconsin found in someone’s garage.”

Vintage Furnishings Add To The Design Narrative

living room with white couches and chocolate brown doors and fireplace — In the living room, the refinished herringbone floor and stripped and replastered walls surround Bohn’s custom mohair-covered sofa and redwood-slab cocktail table.

Pre-renovation, the living room’s plaster ceiling was crumbling, and the walls were clad in a silk “the brightest yellow-orange you’ve ever seen,” Bohn says. When the wallcovering was removed, the scarred plaster underneath wasn’t much better, so she and her team spent months chipping it away, down to the stone rubble walls, which are 2 feet thick in some places. Bohn then added a layer of plaster in gray, a color she uses as a less conventional and, to her mind, a warmer and more versatile alternative to white.

“I’m a gray freak,” says the designer, who used various shades of it in the dining room—above the original wainscot paneling that was shortened to lighten the feel—and in the overhauled kitchen, previously grime-caked with a huge coal-burning stove surrounded by a warren of tiny rooms. “It was gutted front to back with helpers, friends, anybody who had a sledgehammer,” Bohn recalls. She then crafted a multifunctional space, adding a counter extension off the island with stools for casual dining, plus composing a denlike sitting area next to a fireplace with an Eames lounge chair she has owned for three decades.

kitchen island made of marble with brown chairs — Backed by a tall cabinet designed by Fiore, the kitchen now centers on a quartz composite–topped, L-shape island incorporating a cooktop.

Here and throughout the house, Bohn peppered the spaces with wunderkammer–type natural objects—cloches containing bird’s nests, deer and elk heads, a spectacular walnut-root sculpture. The walls, meanwhile, host a personal mix of family photos and artworks the couple has collected over the years. For the second-floor hallway, Bohn commissioned a 20-foot mural of a pastoral landscape, echoing the setting outside.

One of the best vantage points for taking in those surroundings is on the back terrace, where Bohn and Fiore have coffee or lunch overlooking the river. “It’s only about 12 feet wide, too narrow for much of anything, but it’s just the greatest little spot,” she muses.

Ever creatively restless, Bohn says she’s already thinking about her next project, perhaps a home in Mexico. “We’re crazy—we love to work,” she says. “I’m dying to do it again.” Not that Château Montrion has lost its allure. “Every time I drive through the allée, I can’t get over how beautiful this is.”

Tour Château Montrion Revitalized By Laura Bohn And Richard Fiore

kitchen sitting area with dark furnishings and wooden mantelpiece — In the kitchen’s sitting area, a restored Eames lounge chair and footstool Bohn acquired from a client and a walnut-root sculpture on the mantel pair with a painting by Kathryn Lynch.

white lantern hanging from blue ceiling — A humble paper lantern hangs from the entrance hall’s intricate original ceiling.

entryway into home with arches — Flooring is also original, but the area behind the stairs was opened up and glass terrace doors added to bring in more light.

aerial view of back staircase — A second, back staircase has been refurbished.

dining room with elk mounted over fireplace — Among the animal mounts in the dining room is an elk above the carved mantelpiece.

hallway with console next to an art piece — Across from a commissioned woodland mural by Staszek Kotowski that spans 20 feet in the second-floor hallway is a Don Friedman photograph of flowers styled by Joseph Lembo, Bohn’s former Lembo-Bohn Design partner, as inspiration for a Donghia textile they created in the 1980’s.

rear terrace of chateau with a mini garden — The rear terrace, looking through one of the castle’s two towers.

a friendly horse making its way into the chateau — A neighbor and their horse visiting.

main bedroom with antique dresser and painting — A Kotowski painting atop an antique dresser in the main bedroom.

shell-encrusted mirror in main bedroom — A shell-encrusted mirror by Bohn in the main bedroom.

driveway with chestnut trees — An allée of more chestnut trees along the entry drive.

tabletop curios on desk — Tabletop curios in the office.

bathroom with curtain, patterned rug and white chair — The main bathroom’s RH chair, locally sourced tub, and undyed floor covering, all vintage.

foyer stairwell with sconces — Sconces found at a Loire Valley flea market in the foyer stairwell.

outdoor terraces eating area — Terrace seating area beneath a tower.

guest bedroom with repurposed door screens — A set of doors Bohn found in the property’s church have been repurposed into a screen to divide the sleeping and bathing areas in one of the 10 guest bedrooms.

bedroom with fireplace and hide-covered ottoman — Simply furnished, the main bedroom was given a walk-in closet, its entry visible behind the armchair and hide-covered ottoman.

view of the chateau with the river running nearby — The Beuvron river runs behind the house, where a bridge believed to have been built in the 1920’s provides access to an island.

PROJECT TEAM

LAURENT D’EU: LIGHTING DESIGN. FARLEY COLLOM: WOODWORK. BFI CONSTRUCTION: GENERAL CONTRACTOR.

PRODUCT SOURCES

FROM FRONT ANN-MORRIS: PENDANT FIXTURES (SITTING AREA). DONGHIA: CHAIR, FOOTSTOOL (LIVING ROOM), CHAIR (MAIN BEDROOM). KRAVET: LINEN PILLOW FABRIC (LIVING ROOM). CHILEWICH; SAVEL: SOFA FABRICS. SCHMIDT GROUPE: CABINETRY (KITCHEN). DEKTON: COUNTERTOPS. THOMSON APPLIANCE: REFRIGERATOR. BOSCH: STOVE. AIRLUX: COOKTOP. ELECTROLUX: HOODS. RALPH LAUREN: SOFA (SITTING ROOM). LARSEN: SOFA LEATHER (OFFICE). ARTEMIDE: LAMPS (OFFICE, BEDROOMS). RH: CHAIR (BATHROOM). THROUGHOUT PEINTURES SAINT-LUC: PAINT.

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