Gold and eagles, Trump's makeover of the White House

2017-08-24T14:40:00-04:00

A real dump,” is how Donald Trump is said to have described the White House he inherited from the Obama administration. For a man used to inhabiting a penthouse fantasy land of golden columns, heaving chandeliers and cherubs tumbling from the ceilings, the decor at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue must have seemed a bit drab. So he took the opportunity of his summer vacation to call in the decorators for a $3.4m (£2.6m) overhaul, the results of which have been unveiled this week.

Perhaps because the president and his family don’t spend much time living in the White House, the interior changes, at least so far, have been few. Nevertheless, Trumps' recent redecorations include noticeable features like a change in wallpaper— from Obama's yellow candy-stripe to, handpicked by Trump, creamy grey damask affair, and gold drapes with gold-hued upholstery. In "bringing back the lustre and the glory” to the place, replacement of the plain Obama-era carpet was also initiated— the 6,000 meters of the new carpet feature “a floral medallion inspired by the White House architecture and the Rose Garden”.

As Oliver Wainwright writes, "The outside of the White House has been spruced up and stripped back too, given the same liberal dousing of bleach as the interior." In place of the timeworn stone steps of the South Portico staircase, are now brand new treads, "giving them the look of one of the many Chinese McMansions modeled on the White House, rather than the real thing its...

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Gold and eagles, Trump's makeover of the White House