Donald Trump has given the Oval Office a golden makeover and is set to pave over the Rose Garden as he looks to Mar-a-Lago for inspiration while redecorating the White House.
The president has spent the beginning of his second term hard at work at reshaping America’s immigration and economic policy, as well as working on ending wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
However, he’s also taken time to reshape what his home at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue looks like.
Trump is said to be taking cues from his beloved Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to help with the re-design.
Some of the new features include pieces directly shipped from his famous club, as small golden cherubs brought in are placed above the doorways to the Oval Office.
The president is known for his love of gold, given his world famous Trump Tower in Manhattan, and that has played a big part in the decorations.
His future plans include a ‘paving over’ of the Rose Garden to turn it into a more ‘patio style’ similar to the areas where he meets with friends and allies at Mar-a-Lago.
‘He’s personally reviewed those blueprints and even met with the curators as he seeks to put his stamp not just on the Oval Office, but really the entire West Wing in general,’ said CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
Donald Trump has given the Oval Office a golden makeover and a paving over of the Rose Garden as he looks to the place he’s long referred to as ‘the Winter White House’ for inspiration
The president personally selected some of the portraits of his favorite past presidents – Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, Franklin D. Roosevelt and James Polk – while others he picked out of a catalog
She also noted that just in the Oval Office, there are gold vermeil figurines, medallions, gold eagles, gilded Rococo mirrors on the doors and even Trump’s TV remote is ‘wrapped in gilt.’
He has also chosen to further decorate the world’s most famous office with paintings, tripling the number in the room under Joe Biden.
Biden himself had increased the number of portraits from two to six from back when Barack Obama was in office.
The president personally selected some of the portraits of his favorite past presidents – Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, Franklin D. Roosevelt and James Polk – while others he picked out of a catalog.
Collins, a CNN Anchor and Senior White House Correspondent, said that the Oval Office now ‘has much more of the Trump stamp on it.’
When asked about the renovations by The Spectator, Trump said it ‘keeps my real state juices flowing but it will be beautiful.’
One of his big projects is to build a new ballroom for hosting state dinners similar to the one at Mar-a-Lago on the South Lawn.
‘One of the things we’re doing over here is very interesting. I’m a very good developer. I do it really good. You can ask a lot of people. I mean, I did it really well for a long time, and they’ve always needed a ballroom here,’ he said.
The president has spent the beginning of his second term hard at work at reshaping America’s immigration and economic policy, as well as working on ending wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. However, he’s also taken time to reshape what his home at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue looks like
The ballroom will be based on the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles and has said he’ll pay for it himself.
‘One of the things I’m going to do is build a beautiful, magnificent ballroom at the White House. Beautiful ballroom,’ he said.
It’s a far cry from what Melania Trump said the first family would do with the White House a month ago.
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.
The president is known for his love of gold, given his world famous Trump Tower in Manhattan, and that has played a big part in the decorations
Trump is said to be taking cues from his beloved Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to help with the re-design
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.
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.
Anchor and Senior White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins said that the Oval Office now ‘has much more of the Trump stamp on it’
Donald Trump takes questions after signing Executive Orders at Mar-a-Lago
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.
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.
‘Just in the Oval Office, there are gold vermeil figurines, medallions, gold eagles, gilded Rococo mirrors on the doors and even Trump’s TV remote is ‘wrapped in gilt
Trump is also looking to build a ballroom on the South Lawn
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.
