Customer Reviews

Style and Grace: African Americans at Home

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you're looking for a beautiful, decorative coffee-table book to fill space in your living quarters, look no further. STYLE AND GRACE: AFRICAN AMERICANS AT HOME is a beautiful escape inside the home of African American celebrities. Showing a diversity of styles and tastes, the reader is given a glimpse of quiet elegance, sophisticated clutter, and even over-indulgent artifacts. Showcasing the houses of celebrities such as Russell Simmons and Gordon Parks to Nancy Lane and Michael McCollom, this book is resplendent, and quite an inspiration to those who can afford to hire someone else to fix up their house.

Photographer Mick Hales has beautifully portrayed areas both inside and outside of each house. And, while I did think the book was beautiful, it was a bit annoying that it only focused on celebrities as if to say that other African Americans do not have style and decorating abilities too. It would've been nice to see a section devoted to those who do their own interior decorating.

Reviewed by Tee C. Royal
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

I bought this book hoping for decorating inspiration. It's attractive but I wish the author could've visited the homes of a few non celebrities. Another thing I noticed, after looking at only a few pages you begin to realize the each home is very much like the other. It could've been better.

I was thrilled to come across this book as the marketplace has been needing a book like this for a long time. In my home library of interior design books, there has been a hole when it comes to african-american style and design and this books fits the bill perfectly. Some of the people whose homes are shown are well-known, such as Gordon Parks and Russell Simmons, but others who are less-known, but professionals in their field, have beautiful homes nevertheless. I loved seeing how culture and design are interwoven and that modern pieces can be paired with antiques, heirlooms, and artifacts. I highly recommend this book.

This book shined as a look into the homes of African Americans. It provided a in depth look in homes that were beautiful yet still looked like the families that lived in them loved them and used them. I enjoyed each private visit into the homes and look forward to finding more books like this to use as fuel for my home changes.

Style and Grace is a wonderful book with great pictures and ideas for decorating ones home. I enjoy having mine on the coffee table. It is quite inspirational.

Michael Henry Adams has done a gr8 book which i am proud to say has taken pride of place on my coffe table so many interiors books n magazines are very white middle class ... This book shows black people everywhere that we can do it too We HAVE the talent , the creativity , the know how we just forgot it .... STYLE originated and Emanates from us in spades .

The book is well put together I am glad also it has SGL couples thats makes it so much more inclusive

The quality of the Photos is excellent and the text well edited....

Kudos what more can I say except thank you Michael & Mick go Buy it !!!

I purchased this book hoping to learn more about African-American design and cultural aesthetic. However, upon receiving the book, I quickly realized that many of the people in the book were NOT, in fact, African-American. If I wanted a book on Jamaican-Americans at Home, Cubans, or Dutchmen, I would've purchased those books (I've already purchased two great books on Cuban Interiors). I was hoping to learn more about African-American design and culture and what I received instead was a disappointing, misleadingly titled book that focused on celebrity homes that reflected nothing in the way of African-American design or culture...and a book that was not devoted to African-Americans at home, at all. A really disappointing purchase...

Pass this book up quickly and instead purchase Cecil Hayes' Art of Decorative Details. I purchased this book, as well, and fortunately it offers amazing insight into African-American home design and interiors. I love it.

A deeper look into the lives and personal styles of the subjects, but what I really wanted were inspirations for my own home. More pictures please!

I borrowed this book from my local library for decor inspiration and because the photographs were stunning. I then purchased my own copy because I fell in love with the wonderful stories of the homeowners and the gorgeous pictures. While the majority of the homes featured are in the New York area, there is a wide range of home design on display here. My favorites were the NY townhomes as I just love the look of the woodwork and the beautiful fireplaces. Well worth it and makes a fine addition to any library or showpiece for your coffee table.

Style and Grace: African Americans at Home is a must for anyone that is an avid collector of diverse Interior Decorating styles. Even if you are just interested in designs for creating African interiors, or decorating styles of the artistic and eclectic, this is the one book to add to your collection. African objects mixed with art deco, classical, traditional and modern styles. The Exotic and Rustic to the Modern and Streamlined are showcased-all are a mixture of what we strive to achieve in our own homes.

The rooms in this book are actual, lived in rooms of everyday homes. Nothing seems staged or fussy. Masculine or Feminine...I found all these interiors very culturally urban. Comfortable, inspirational, unique and beautiful!