President Donald Trump has dedicated most of his professional career to real estate promotion, so it makes sense that in the first year of his second term, he has embarked on the most significant renovation in decades of the White House premises and has taken it personally. "It's my real estate blood flowing," said Trump in May to explain his works. The photographs of the Oval Office, where the president holds his professional appointments and speaks to the media, are proof of that personal touch, so obviously Trump: golden accents, walls full of paintings, patriotic colors...
The U.S. Presidency anticipates a budget of $100,000 extra for each new president to refurnish their residence when they start their term. Often, this allocation is used to change carpets, curtains, and mattresses and is not fully spent. Trump, on the other hand, has stated that he will foot the bill for the renovations because they will be much more ambitious.
For now, the look of the Oval Office in the West Wing has already begun to change. Where Joe Biden had five portraits (Washington, Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton), two busts (Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King), and a floral ornament around the fireplace, Trump has placed seven older paintings with splendid golden frames, a dozen vases, golden garlands, and trophies, blue curtains, and a model airplane on the coffee table (the busts remain). The armchairs have also received a golden touch, according to the president's personal taste, evident in his real estate projects and private residences. And in the anteroom, Trump has hung a painting in which he appears alongside Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan. According to The New York Times, the next addition will be a chandelier.
Trump's renovations go beyond furniture. The president has already embarked on a more serious project in the White House rose garden, a lawn of approximately 20 by 40 meters, surrounded by roses and used for official receptions during the warm months. Trump has had the lawn removed to install a hard surface. Why? Because female guests wearing high heels were uncomfortable, White House sources have explained. The project is almost a taboo broken, as the rose garden has maintained its appearance since 1902, from Theodore Roosevelt's term.
The president's obsession, even before his first victory in 2016, lies on the other side of the complex, in the East Wing (the representative area), where he aims to expand to create a ballroom, similar to the one he built at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida club-house.