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A couple bought an 18th-century chateau in the French countryside and spent $600,000 turning it into a modern guesthouse — take a look at how they did it

A couple bought an 18th-century chateau in the French countryside and spent $600,000 turning it into a modern guesthouse take a look at how they did it

Amanda Goh

Exterior facade of the chateau.Courtesy of Le Fleur

A couple gave up city life in Paris to fulfill their dream of owning a chateau.
They bought Chateau Gonneville sur Honfleur in Normandy and have spent three years renovating the place.

Philipp Mayrhofer and his wife, Anna, bought an 18th-century chateau in Normandy in May 2019. They have spent the past three years turning it into their family home and a guesthouse.

Philipp and Anna Mayrhofer standing in front of their chateau. Courtesy of Le Fleur.

Mayrhofer is Italian, and his wife is English. After getting married, they lived in Paris with their two young children. For Mayrhofer, the chateau dream was born out of financial planning.

"I wanted to buy a chateau for many, many years because at one point when we were moving from one house to another in Paris, I realized that I could buy for the same price of a small apartment in Paris, a chateau somewhere in a French countryside," Mayrhofer, a filmmaker, told Insider.

"And so this became almost an obsession of mine, when we moved apartments in Paris, to see and to compare what I could buy if I would give up the Paris apartment," he continued.

As his wife worked long hours as a fashion and textile designer, there came a point where they both decided they needed a change of pace.

Mayrhofer provided Insider with proof of purchase of the chateau but requested that the closing price be kept private. Insider verified the sale with property records found online.

The chateau, known as Chateau Gonneville sur Honfleur, is in a rural village just outside of Honfleur, a harbor city in Normandy, France.

Before it was restored, the exterior of the chateau was in poor condition. Courtesy of Le Fleur

Due to its age, the house was in poor condition and required a complete overhaul. The windows were cracked and there was no proper heating system in many rooms. Some of them even lacked an electricity supply.

In addition to the challenges posed by the house itself, the couple also encountered some financial roadblocks.

"When the insurances of the banks found out it was a chateau, they said, 'No, we're not going to insure that,'" Mayrhofer said.

Ultimately, the banks agreed on a loan — but it was much smaller than expected.

"The banks agreed on a normal loan that we would have gotten for an apartment in Paris of that price," Mayrhofer said.

With a tight budget, the couple decided to do most of the renovation work themselves — including installing bathrooms, repainting the walls, and retiling the floors.

Philipp working on the walls of the chateau. Courtesy of Le Fleur

There were two big jobs where they needed contractors to step in: Restoring the facade of the home, and connecting the house to the public sewage system.

"We had to dig up a huge trench to get the wastewater from the chateau to the street, which is about a hundred meters away or so. That was a huge job, because before it was a septic tank," Mayrhofer said.

Repainting the walls of all the rooms took months, and Anna did it mostly by herself.

Anna painting the walls of a room in the chateau. Courtesy of Le Fleur

"For Anna, I would say the most challenging part is painting, because she has quite high standards when it comes to finishes," Mayrhofer said.

"We found a lot of good artisans, but we couldn't find any painter who would be as meticulous as we wanted it to be," he said.

Mayrhofer said almost every room in the chateau had to be reconfigured.

The entrance to the chateau before it was renovated. Courtesy of Le Fleur

"We had to redo the floor. We had to take off the old tiles and we had to put a new dry slab, then planks, and carpets. So that was also a massive job," he said.

The chateau has 18 rooms.

There were only two bathrooms in the chateau originally, which Mayrhofer said wasn't enough to serve the needs of the family.

One of the bedrooms before renovation. The room has since been refurnished and the walls are now painted a darker shade of green, earning it its new name "The Green Room." Courtesy of Le Fleur

Mayrhofer said that for him, the hardest part of the renovation was installing showers and toilets in the guestrooms. A tiny pipe fed water into the house, which was enough for the chateau's two original bathrooms — but not nearly enough for the renovated plan.

"Finding a way to get water in and out of these rooms in the ceilings was quite a challenge, without damaging any of the historic features of the rooms," he said.

"We needed to bring in water in a bigger pipe so that the pressure would be good enough for a house of this size," he added.

One of the biggest transformations is the kitchen, which the couple hopes will be completed in a few weeks.

The kitchen before renovation. Courtesy of Le Fleur

Everything from the floor to the ceiling, including the windows, had to be redone, Mayrhofer said.

The work included lifting a 15-meter (nearly 50-foot) chimney that went up to the roof so that there was sufficient space to put a range cooker underneath it, he added.

There are three big salons in the chateau. One is used as a breakfast room.

One of the salons before renovation. Courtesy of Le Fleur

A third salon, which was initially the dining room, is currently being used as storage.

"We found out it had original painted wall frescos from the early 19th century, so we want to restore them," Mayrhofer said. "That's going to be a really nice dining room in the future."

Every detail of the house was taken care of, including the furniture, some of which Anna tried to restore on her own.

Anna reupholstering a 19th century chair for the chateau's salon. Courtesy of Le Fleur.

The previous owners had left some furnishings, including mirrors, in the chateau. But the couple bought the rest of the furniture from local secondhand or charity stores known as Brocante shops.

Mayrhofer estimates they have spent about €600,000 ($652,500) thus far renovating the main building and on some garden work.

The entrance to the chateau after it was renovated. Courtesy of Le Fleur

The renovated rooms have a modern touch, but the couple also preserved the chateau's historical charm.

The family's quarters are located on the second floor, but the chateau also serves as a guesthouse where visitors can rent bedrooms.

The couple is currently documenting their chateau renovation journey on Youtube.

The evening salon now. Courtesy of Le Fleur

"We were actually featured in an English TV show called 'Escape to the Chateau: DIY.' From the beginning, we knew this was a very good exposure for our guesthouse business," Mayrhofer said.

When the pandemic hit, everything had to be put on hold — including their plans for the guesthouse.

"We couldn't do much then, but we needed people to come after. So we thought maybe we should film ourselves a bit and put it online, since the film crew couldn't come either. We thought that would help people visit us after COVID was over," he said.

Their Youtube channel, How to Renovate a Chateau, has 255,000 subscribers.

They are also in the early stages of researching the chateau's history.

One of the bedrooms after renovation. It is now known as "The Green Room." Before photos of the room can be seen in earlier parts of the article. Courtesy of Le Fleur

"We know that whoever owned the chateau during the French Revolution, it was taken away from them. And then many years later, they got it back," Mayrhofer said.

"The previous owners had it for about a hundred years — they bought it during the first World War. They were a family from Paris who wanted to escape the bombings, and so they bought a country house and transferred all their wealth into this place," he added.

The couple is currently working with archives and are in the process of translating the documents they've found, which they estimate will take a few months.

In one of the salons, Mayrhofer had to install a log burner below the chimney to ensure sufficient heating.

The completed breakfast room. Courtesy of Le Fleur

The couple now uses the salon as a breakfast room.

As of this week, the guesthouse is open for business, Mayrhofer said. This renovated bedroom, which the couple has dubbed "The Blue Room," is one of four bedrooms available for guests to rent.

One of the renovated bedrooms. It is now known as "The Blue Room." Courtesy of Le Fleur

Prices for the rooms, each of which has a king-sized bed, start around €250 ($270) a night.

This bedroom is known as "The Pink Room."

One of the renovated bedrooms. It is now known as "The Pink Room." Courtesy of Le Fleur

It overlooks the chateau's lawn and woodlands, and has an attached bathroom hidden behind the wood-paneled walls, per the guesthouse website.

This is one of the bathrooms that the couple installed on their own.

One of the chateau's renovated bathrooms. Courtesy of Le Fleur

While the couple has completed a large part of the chateau's renovations, they said they hope to reinvest proceeds from their guesthouse business into further developing the rest of the home. The kitchen is not yet completed, and they are also looking to work on the property's expansive gardens.

Mayrhofer himself is excited for the switch.

"Now finally, I have time to start working on restructuring the garden. That's something I'm really passionate about," he said.

"We have the space and it would really nice to grow our own vegetables," he added.