Have long been an admirer of Bobby McAlpine and have wished he would publish a book. This is marvelous and has already become one of my favorites. Several but not all of the houses shown were previously published in Southern Accents and elsewhere -- and it is wonderful to have them together here with the author's narrative. One of the things that makes this book especially interesting is the feature on the architect's own house which is shown in three quite different iterations. It is fascinating to see how the same space looks dressed in three quite different schemes.
McAlpine's narrative relates some of his design choices, for example, the preference for a smaller entrance at the side of the house rather than the grand center entrance, the interest in natural stone and limed antiqued wood, and patina of all sorts. McAlpine gave me a real appreciation for the use of dark. Seeing these rooms, I understood that one does not require pastel walls to have an experience of light in a room -- on the contrary, sun flowing into a room with dark walls can render a much richer experience of light. Seeing his rooms in the eighties gave me the courage to paint the light walls of my sunroom dark, dark green, and I have loved it. Of course McAlpine is not unique in using dark, but he has done it so skillfully and compellingly.
If you like patina'ed surfaces, stone and brick, dark, dare I say, somewhat masculine and oversize furnishings, nuanced colors, antiques -- if you like Saladino and Tarlow and VerVoordt -- you will most likely enjoy this book.