Melania Trump revealed her plans for redecorating the White House when she and Donald move in on Inauguration Day Monday.
She will make the place feel just like home as she intends to have the residence look just like it did when they left it.
‘A little bit of changes. Not much,’ she told Fox News about her plans.
All first families place their mark on the White House – particularly the upper floors where they live – and Melania was no exception.
In her memoir, she wrote that she focused on ‘redecorating a dozen rooms in the private residence, as the existing style was outdated and not to my taste.’ She even designed a new rug for one of the main family rooms.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump put his own touch on the place with his infamous ‘Diet Coke’ button – a red button on the desk of the Oval Office that, when he pressed it, his favorite beverage was brought in on a silver tray.
So when they walk into the White House on Monday after the swearing-in ceremony, residence staff will have returned the building to how it looked on the day the couple left it four years ago.
The nearly 100 employees, who are nonpolitical and stay on from president to president, spend the morning of January 20 moving the departing commander-in-chief out and the incoming one in.
They have about five hours to get it all done. It’s a well-coordinated process that comes after months of planning. After all, the staff have known since President Joe Biden exited the presidential race in July that a new family was moving in – one way or another.
Donald and Melania Trump are preparing for their move to Washington D.C.
A moving truck is seen outside the West Wing at the White House
People move bags that say ‘Unclassified Only’ and paintings out of the White House
By the time the Trumps enter 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, they’ll find their clothes in their closet, their preferred shampoo in the bathroom, and their favorite foods in the kitchen.
Family photos will be displayed. Furniture will be rearranged to their liking.
The process of moving out the Bidens has already started. Moving trucks were spotted at the White House last week. Packets of boxes and giant rolls of bubble wrap were unloaded to start the packing process.
Additionally, moving trucks were seen at Mar-a-Lago as the Trumps prepare for the move north.
For the White House staff, it will be an easy transition. They know Donald and Melania Trump thanks to his first term in office.
‘It’s easier because they’ve lived there before,’ Kate Andersen Brower, author of The Residence, told DailyMail.com.
‘There aren’t any mysteries about what [the Trumps] would they like to have for breakfast, how they operate, what kind of shampoo they use. I mean, they know everything already.’
The staff generally get along with whoever occupies the Oval Office. Their jobs are permanent and outside of the political process.
Many of them have worked at the White House for years and have served several presidents. Their loyalty is to the families that have lived there.
They include butlers, maids, housekeepers, chefs, cooks, doormen, florists, curators, electricians, plumbers, storekeepers, and engineers among others.
They like Trump and will welcome him back with open arms.
‘He would, like, tip them cash. I was told he would hand out $50 bills,’ Brower said.
President Donald Trump sits at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office – the Diet Coke button is circled in red
The Yellow Oval Room on the second floor that served as the Trumps’ living room and was refurnished by Melania Trump; she designed the rug
The empty Oval Office during a August 2017 restoration project
The Center Hall of the residence was another area Melania Trump restored
In her first White House tenure, Melania Trump worked with designer Tham Kannalikham to refurnish a number of rooms, including the Yellow Oval Room, the Queens’ Bedroom and the Center Hall.
She detailed her work in her memoir ‘Melania,’ writing her goal was to ‘preserving the history and beauty of the White House for future generations.’
She said the Yellow Oval Room in the residence was a ‘favorite’ and she designed the rug on the floor.
‘I carefully selected beautiful antiques from the White House collection,’ she wrote in ‘Melania’. ‘I personally designed a custom rug featuring American Beauty roses, blue ribbons and a trellis motif to tie everything together.’
She also refurbished the president’s private dining room and the Queen’s Bedroom, named after Elizabeth II who slept there.
Melania noted she ‘replaced the old bed with a more refined piece, laid a lighter, floral-pattered rug, and painted the walls a delicate shade of pink.’
She also restored much of the flooring in the state rooms on the first floor, which hadn’t been repaired in years and has hundreds of visitors walk over them on a monthly basis.
Donald Trump’s Oval Office furnishings
Joe Biden’s Oval Office on the day he took the presidency in January 2021
The controversial Winston Churchill bust (above circled in red) was returned to the Oval Office by Donald Trump after Barack Obama removed it
Melania Trump’s restoration work in the Rose Garden was controversial
Melania Trump added a tennis pavilion to the White House grounds
Donald and Melania Trump exit the White House on January 20th, 2021 – they’ll return on January 20th, 2025
Each family puts its own mark on the residence so it reflects the needs of the occupants. For example, the Obamas, who had two young daughters, made the upstairs of the White House more homey and child-friendly.
For the upstairs rooms, which was the Trump family’s personal living space, Melania used soft pastel colors – yellow paint on the walls, pink and blue furniture, light-colored rugs – to give a relaxing and inviting feel.
She also added a Tennis Pavilion to the grounds and renovated some damaged furniture and accessories in the East Room and Red Room. And – to much controversy – she redid the White House Rose Garden.
Donald Trump put his mark on the Oval Office, including that now infamous Diet Coke button.
He could press the button whenever he wanted the soda, which he drank constantly. Walt Nauta, his personal valet who left the White House with him, was in charge of answering the call. Nauta would bring Trump a glass of Diet Coke on a silver tray.
Trump even joked about the red button, which was by his phone, saying people thought it was to activate nuclear weapons.
‘Everyone does get a little nervous when I press that button,’ he said.
Trump also had pictures of his parents and his challenge coin collection on display. He also displayed a model of his redesign for Air Force One, painted in the same blue, red and white as his Trump Force One.
Trump loves Diet coke and drinks several glasses a day – above a cup of soda on his desk in December 2018
The Oval Office is always redone to reflect the occupant. For example, Biden used a dark blue rug on the floor. Trump used a soft beige one.
Both men used the Resolute Desk, which was built from the timbers of the British ship and given to America by Queen Victoria.
Each president also picks their own artwork, which became a subject of controversy when Democrats Biden and Barack Obama removed a bust of Winston Churchill that Republicans George W. Bush and Trump had in the Oval.
Besides the decorations, the biggest question is who the Trumps will hire to be chief usher.
The chief usher is the head of household staff and operations at the White House. The holder of the position runs the 55,000-square foot, six-floor White House residence and oversees the permanent staff.
The person answers directly to the president and first lady. They hire and fire staff and manage the funds allocated by Congress to run the house, including the cost of heating, lighting, air-conditioning and the staff’s salaries.
The position pays around $200,000 a year.
The job, which was once a non-political one, has become exactly that with presidents naming their own pick to run the household.
The Bidens hired Robert Downing as chief usher when they took over the residence. Downing has a long history in the hospitality industry.
The Trumps will now pick their own.
