Richly illustrated with two hundred photos of stunning interiors spanning every aesthetic and approach, from minimalist to maximalist, contemporary to classic, our new book In The House spotlights the sheer breadth and collective brilliance of Black interior designers.
The title, In The House, speaks to not only the designers’ passion for interior design, but also the community they’ve created in a field in which they had not seen themselves reflected, and to which the majority of the featured designers came after building impressive careers in other disciplines.
The 32 featured design stars featured in In The House: Celebrating America's Leading Black Interior Designers include Brigette Romanek, Tiffany Brooks, Elliott Barnes, Forbes Masters, Ishka Designs, Amber Guyton, Laura Hodges, Leydon Lewis, Rayman Boozer, Justina Blakeney, Delia Kenza, and many others.
Each designer is profiled through a lively text by Alton LaDay, whose years of experience promoting and consulting for interior designers completely immersed him in the field. The trajectory of their life in design is traced, accompanied by several pages of images of residential interiors in their signature style.
In The House: Celebrating America's Leading Black Interior Designers opens with an introduction by LaDay tracing the legacy of icons such as Cecil Hayes—the first Black designer to be featured in Architectural Digest and included on its influential AD100—and draws on his in-depth interviews with the featured designers to explore the Black experience in interior design and illuminate the path forward for the next generation of creatives.
Here, we take a brief look at four of the designers and design companies featured in the book.
Apartment 48
Rayman Boozer. Picture credit: Gieves Anderson
For Rayman Boozer, interior design is storytelling. He makes as much clear right on the home page for his studio, Apartment 48: “Every interior has a story. Apartment 48 takes an organic approach to building your narrative.” If Boozer’s mastery of fabrics, vintage furnishings, and color bolsters his ability to zero in on his clients’ core narrative, his own design story is a little more circuitous. Despite his early fascination with design—Boozer devoured shelter magazines as a child in Indiana—and his obvious natural talent for it, as a young man Boozer was not aware that a profession in interior design was possible.
“Entering college I planned to become a psychologist,” he says. “Then I discovered they had an interior design department.” He soon realized that a career could be made by pursuing his passion. “I took an intro to interiors class just for fun. I turned out to be really good at it, and there was something innate that just clicked and I immediately knew it would be my future.”
After graduating from Indiana University, Boozer moved to New York. He first worked for large retailers, where he learned about merchandising and branding. After a few years, Boozer struck out on his own with a savvy concept store. “In 1994, I opened a home furnishing shop that was designed to look like an apartment,” he says. “It was the first of its kind, and I thought the name should just be the address. It was located at 48 West Seventeenth Street—so Apartment 48.”
Rayman Boozer. Picture credit: Gieves Anderson
The store lasted for nearly two decades and developed a devoted following among design editors. “In the beginning I had no idea how the business of design worked,” Boozer says. “I’d receive a phone call from Margaret Russell”—at the time the editor in chief of Elle Decor—“asking a question that I’d answer. I had no idea who I was speaking to or that the answer would appear in [a magazine]! It was an incredible time.” And as the shop was designed to look like a residence, requests to take on private interior design commissions naturally arose.
But the true turning point in Boozer’s story came in 2006 when Elle Decor ran a cover featuring a corner of his SoHo apartment, with its sky blue walls and butter yellow baseboards, vintage furniture, and eclectic art. He became sought-after as a designer: “I evolved into an interior designer overnight.”
Today, Boozer and Apartment 48 are still best known for thoughtfully deploying color, furnishings, and textiles to tell his clients’ tale: “I believe that great design should flow easily and it should tell a story about the people who inhabit the space.” Despite the rising client demand, Boozer still finds time for passion projects and noble pursuits, such as the Orejen Collection, his collaboration with S. Harris Fabrics and BADG. Of the collection, Boozer has said, “The African diaspora, one of the largest and most impactful dispersions in our history, beats at the center of modernity and resides at the heart of the Orejen Collection.”
Apartment 48 has been featured in the kinds of shelter magazines that Boozer pored over as a child—including Elle Decor, Architectural Digest, AD Italia, and House Beautiful, as well as New York Magazine— and Boozer has earned coveted spots on the AD100 and Elle Decor A-List. Despite his full desk, Boozer sees taking on even more at Apartment 48. “We plan to continue with residential and commercial projects, but I also want to grow into hospitality,” he says. “I love a good hotel room!”
Forbes Masters
Tavia Forbes & Monet Masters-Coats. Picture credit: Lacey Land, Courtesy Forbes Masters
Tavia Forbes and Monet Masters-Coats are the supremely talented duo behind the nationally recognized interior design studio Forbes Masters. But what is now an acclaimed firm, recognized by Architectural Digest as an important new voice in the field, started with a chance collaboration.
Forbes and Masters-Coats were introduced through a design project that demanded their individual skills. From there, they formed a close professional friendship, assisting each other on projects. In time, their casual chats turned into something more intentional—the idea of uniting to create a new venture. Just as momentum was building, Forbes was called onto a project last minute and asked Masters-Coats to join her for the initial client meeting. They landed the job together, and within a matter of days they realized how seamlessly their talents aligned. It was a defining moment. Their strengths complemented one another effortlessly, and they brought a balance and energy that neither wanted to lose.
Tavia Forbes & Monet Masters-Coats. Picture credit: Brock Shanks, Courtesy
Forbes Masters
When Masters-Coats was approached for another project with a quick turnaround shortly after, reaching out to Forbes felt like second nature. As more projects began flowing through both of their businesses, it became clear: The future was brighter together. Their chemistry was so undeniable that in the summer of 2015 they officially formed the design partnership of Forbes Masters. Today, Forbes Masters is distinguished by its bold, atmospheric, and elegant contemporary interiors; thoughtful storytelling; and seamless process from vision to execution.
Tavia Forbes & Monet Masters-Coats. Picture credit: Lacey Land, Courtesy
Forbes Masters
“Forbes and Masters’ work is daring enough to be different and refined enough to be timeless,” Masters-Coats says. “We don’t follow rules, we redefine them. We encourage our clients to embrace what they love unapologetically.”
Forbes holds a marketing and studio art degree from Stony Brook University in New York. Masters-Coats’s passion for interior design was sparked at an early age and led her to Savannah College of Art and Design, Atlanta, where she earned her BFA in interior design. Their work as Forbes Masters has appeared in numerous magazines, including Luxe Interiors + Design, Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Modern Luxury Interiors, Essence, Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, the Business of Home, and The Atlanta Tribune, among others.
Jungalow
Justina Blakeney. Picture credit: Jungalow
Justina Blakeney is the definition of a multi-hyphenate; the author artist-designer is the visionary behind the lifestyle brand Jungalow. Although those close to her could have anticipated that she’d have such a multifaceted career, it didn’t exactly start where you would expect.
“I studied world arts and cultures at UCLA, with a minor in Italian: a mix that let me explore storytelling, anthropology, and aesthetics from all over the world,” Blakeney says. She went on to study fashion design at Polimoda in Florence, Italy, feeding her love for color, pattern, and textiles.
“In Florence, my sister Faith and I opened a little boutique called Compai in the historical center of the city. We sold vintage pieces, one-of-a-kind clothing, objets d’art, and accessories. It was part gallery, part treasure chest, and very much a creative playground,” she says. After pursuing fashion, Blakeney began the shift toward interior design. But at first her medium was words, not rooms.
“I [was] a writer and editor for a handful of lifestyle, fashion, and design publications, which sharpened my eye and my voice,” she describes. “In 2009, I started a blog”—the first iteration of Jungalow—“that became the launch pad for my design career. It was my digital sketchbook, my journal, my megaphone. It helped me build a community, a brand, and eventually, a business.”
The Jungalow blog and Blakeney’s vibrant, characterful aesthetic, led to several product collaborations with retailers such as Hygge & West, Anthropologie, Target, Ruggable, and others, not to mention multiple books and a massive social media following.
After several successful years of hands-on design and growing the Jungalow brand, Blakeney is shifting once again, to somewhere more elemental than design. “The new direction is all about following the spark: what lights me up, what inspires curiosity and joy,” she says. “I’m exploring creativity without borders: fine art, storytelling, community building, music, ritual, interiors, fashion, in whatever medium feels most alive in the moment.”
Blakeney had her first solo art show at a gallery in Los Angeles (“[it] felt like a powerful homecoming to painting,” she says), and she is writing a guide to personal actualization with her psychologist mother. Of her own trajectory, Blakeney says, “I think of it as multimagical. It’s less about sticking to one lane, and more about trusting the creative impulse and following it wherever it leads.”
While she follows her bliss in other directions, Blakeney has certainly not abandoned design; she’s taking on as many creative partnerships as ever, especially with companies that share her ethos. Jungalow has become a certified B Corp, and the studio is growing its community by forging meaningful partnerships with other B Corps in the years ahead.
“The magic of Jungalow is that we stay in flow. We evolve, we respond, we bloom. Five years from now, I see us growing deeper roots and spreading new vines,” she predicts. “We’ll likely be collaborating more internationally, cross-pollinating with other B Corps and kindred spirits who share our values. I want Jungalow to keep being a portal for joy, nature, color, connection, and heart-centered living."
Romanek
Brigette Romanek. Picture credit: Michael P. H. Clifford
Brigette Romanek’s rise to become one of Hollywood’s—and America’s— favorite interior designers resulted from equal parts pure talent, hard work, and good luck. The daughter of singer-songwriter Paulette McWilliams, known for her work with artists including Luther Vandross, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, and Aretha Franklin, just to name a few, Romanek tagged along to countless recording sessions and was surrounded by the creative energy of the music industry as a child. She soon found her own part in it: when overheard singing to herself at age seventeen, Romanek was “discovered” and, before she knew it, became a member of a girl group and had a record deal.
Romanek engaged with the music business with enthusiasm, but it didn’t provide what she was seeking. “I liked it. I didn’t love it. I don’t have to be onstage in front of a lot of people,” she recalled on the Business of Home Podcast. “Being an artist, it has to be your voice. That was missing. It was fun, but it wasn’t something I wanted to devote my life to.”
The world of entertainment was not as creatively fulfilling as she had hoped it would be. Romanek hadn’t yet found a field of her own. While pondering her next move, Romanek made handbags—beautiful ones—for Christmas gifts for close friends. This sweet gesture led to a call from Barneys New York with an opening order, and suddenly she was in the handbag business. Answering the call of fate, she produced her first collection and held a private trunk show in her home. But at the event all eyes were drawn as much to her home decor as to the bags. Numerous requests for interior design advice followed and a design career was born.
In The House writer Alton LaDay
In a few short years, Romanek had built her client roster, which swiftly expanded from friends to friends of friends to far beyond. She founded the Romanek Design Studio in 2018 and quickly became known for her particular brand of glamorous but inviting interiors featuring an eclectic mix of standout contemporary art, collectible design, and bold finishes. Among the celebrities who have been attracted to her, as she puts it, “Gap meets Gucci” design philosophy, are Gwyneth Paltrow, Beyoncé, Demi Moore, Christian Bale, and Rachel Zoe.
Since its founding, Romanek Design Studio has realized impressive residential interiors—including Paltrow’s home, which earned a cover feature in Architectural Digest—and commercial and hospitality projects such as interiors for Piaget’s Beverly Hills boutique and the Delilah restaurant in West Hollywood.
In 2023 she published her first book: Livable Luxe. And in 2025, she launched an eponymous furniture and home accessories collection with Crate & Barrel, adding to her growing design brand and a list of collaborations and partnerships that already included Artemest, Loloi, Bulgari, St. John, Christie’s, and Anthropologie. As an interior designer, Romanek not only enjoys accolades—and there are plenty, including multiple years on the AD100, the Elle Decor A-List (she received Titan status in 2024), the 1stDibs 50, and the Wallpaper* USA 400—but the means of creative expression she was always meant to have.
Take a look at In The House: Celebrating America's Leading Black Interior Designers
