By
Talia Lakritz
Every time Talia publishes a story, you’ll get an alert straight to your inbox!
By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider’s
Terms of Service and
Privacy Policy.
Follow Talia Lakritz
Updated 2026-04-01T15:28:38.683Z
- Donald Trump has brought his love of maximalism and gold furnishings to the White House.
- He added gold embellishments to the walls and ceiling of the Oval Office and Cabinet Room.
- He has also renovated the Rose Garden and demolished the East Wing to build a ballroom.
The Oval Office is looking a little bit different lately.
Every US president makes new interior design choices upon entering the White House, often reflecting their personal tastes or political views.
In his second term, President Donald Trump has incorporated his love of maximalism and gold furnishings into the Oval Office.
He has other, bigger plans for the White House, too. The East Wing was demolished in October to make way for a new $400 million, 90,000-square-foot state ballroom, although a judge halted the construction on Tuesday, saying Congress must approve the project before it can resume.
Take a look inside Trump's redecorated White House to see the changes he's made since former President Joe Biden left office.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
The West Wing Colonnade was unadorned during the Biden years.
President Joe Biden walked through the West Colonnade alongside Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in May 2023.
Trump added a "Presidential Walk of Fame" where Biden is depicted with a photo of an autopen producing his signature.
Trump has criticized Biden's use of an autopen and sought to invalidate Biden's pardons and commutations that were signed with the device.
The plaques accompanying the photos summarize each presidency with occasionally critical commentary on Trump's predecessors. Biden is referred to as "sleepy," and President Barack Obama is described as "divisive."
In a statement, Karoline Leavitt called the plaques "eloquently written descriptions of each President and the legacy they left behind" and said that Trump wrote many of them himself.
The Palm Room, which connects the White House Residence to the West Colonnade, was previously furnished with plants, green benches, and a tile floor.
The Palm Room leads out into the Rose Garden.
In September, Trump refinished the room with a new chandelier and a white marble floor.
"New lobby leading to Oval Office — Magnificent marble floor, compliments of President Donald J. Trump!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.
During Biden's time in the White House, the door to the Oval Office was not decorated in any way.
Aside from a presidential seal above the door to the West Wing, the walls were empty.
President Donald Trump added new gold signage outside the Oval Office.
The gold lettering spelling out "The Oval Office" was set in the Shelley Script font. Trump also added a gold decal to the top of the door.
Biden's dark-blue Oval Office rug was originally designed for Bill Clinton.
The rug, which featured the presidential seal in the center, was designed by Kaki Hockersmith, an interior designer based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Upon returning to the White House, Trump replaced it with a lighter rug used by Ronald Reagan.
The rug's design includes the presidential seal, a sunbeam pattern, and olive branches along the border as a symbol of peace.
Trump also used the rug during his first term.
Biden only had two flags in the Oval Office.
Biden displayed an American flag and a flag with the presidential seal.
Trump added the flags of different branches of the US military.
Trump's Oval Office features the flags of the Army, the Marine Corps, and the Navy.
During Biden's presidency, the Oval Office's ceiling didn't feature any additional embellishments.
The crown molding on the ceiling matched the cream wallpaper.
Trump added gold trim to the crown molding.
The gold embellishments matched the gold curtains, which remained in place from Biden's presidency.
Biden's Oval Office featured a prominent portrait of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Biden also hung portraits of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton together to symbolize the benefits of different opinions, as well as portraits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
Trump added additional portraits and numerous gold embellishments to the space.
Trump added more portraits with decorative frames to create an Oval Office gallery wall. He also replaced Biden's portrait of FDR with one of George Washington and displayed historic gold urns and baskets from the White House collection on the mantle.
Trump also incorporated smaller gold details, such as coasters, branded with his name.
Trump's love of gold decor is well-known. His Trump Tower penthouse in New York City features numerous gilded ceilings, furniture pieces, and artwork. Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, also includes a ballroom covered in gold from floor to ceiling.
Before Trump took office for the second time, the presidential seal on the ceiling of the Oval Office was a subtle adornment.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt added the plaster relief of the presidential seal to the Oval Office during a 1934 White House renovation.
Trump added gilded gold detailing to the design, making it more visible.
Both the seal and the stars surrounding it were covered in gold paint.
Biden chose to display President Barack Obama's official White House portrait in the Entrance Hall.
The hyperrealistic portrait, painted by Robert McCurdy, was unveiled at the White House in 2023.
Trump replaced Obama's portrait with a painting of himself.
Artist Marc Lipp painted a rendering of an Associated Press photo that captured Trump raising his fist in the air following an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The White House Rose Garden previously featured a grass lawn.
Before it was used for press conferences and events, first lady Ellen Wilson originally designed the outdoor space as a formal flower garden in 1913.
First lady Melania Trump added a limestone border around the lawn in 2020.
Trump decided to pave over the grass, turning it into an outdoor terrace rebranded as "The Rose Garden Club."
Trump told Fox News that the grass in the Rose Garden was impractical for large events because it stayed wet when it rained and was too soft for attendees who wore high heels.
"The grass just doesn't work," Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham in March 2025.
Workers began transforming the lawn into a patio that June, replacing the grass with concrete and stone tiles. "The Rose Garden Club" was completed in August.
Trump also added statues of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson to the Rose Garden.
The statues are on loan from private citizens, the White House said in March.
Biden and previous presidents occasionally held large events, such as state dinners, in decorative tents on the White House lawn.
The East Room, the largest state room in the White House, had a seating capacity of 200 people. When Biden hosted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in 2023, he held the state dinner in a tent outside the White House to accommodate the larger crowd of over 300.
Trump announced plans to build a state ballroom in July and demolished the East Wing for its construction in October.
The 90,000-square-foot ballroom, which the White House called a "much-needed and exquisite addition," was initially going to have a capacity of 650 people, but that has since been amended to more than 1,000.
It will cost approximately $400 million to construct, a cost that has doubled from its initial $200 million estimate. Trump and other "patriot donors" will foot the bill for the project, the White House said.
On Tuesday, a federal judge ordered construction of the ballroom to stop until Congress approves the project as part of a lawsuit filed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Trump said he would appeal the ruling.
"Many things have been built in the White House," the president said in the Oval Office after the ruling. "They haven't gotten congressional approval, especially when the money is being not put up by the taxpayer; the taxpayer's not putting up a dime."
During the Biden administration, the Cabinet Room featured minimal artwork and decor.
Located in the West Wing near the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room overlooks the Rose Garden and features a large, oval-shaped mahogany table purchased by President Richard Nixon in 1970, according to Obama's archived White House website.
Seating at the table is assigned in order of when each department was established, with the oldest departments sitting nearest to the president.
Trump added additional paintings to the walls and gold furnishings along the ceiling.
Trump chose portraits of past presidents, including George Washington, John Adams, Andrew Jackson, James Polk, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower, to decorate the Cabinet Room.
"The vaults are where we have a lot of great pictures and artwork," Trump told reporters in July. "And I picked it all myself, I'm very proud of it."
The Cabinet Room featured eagle-shaped wall sconces during Biden's presidency.
The eagle sconces were installed as part of a 2004 refurbishment of the Cabinet Room, which also included a new rug, curtains, and a new paint color.
Trump added 24-karat gold decals to the walls and installed matching gold curtains.
"Some of the highest quality 24 Karat Gold used in the Oval Office and Cabinet Room of the White House," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post in September. "Foreign Leaders, and everyone else, 'freak out' when they see the quality and beauty."
Before Trump took office for a second time, the Lincoln Bathroom featured seafoam-green tile walls and basic furnishings.
The Lincoln Bathroom connects to the Lincoln Bedroom on the second floor of the Executive Residence.
Trump renovated the bathroom with Statuary marble and added gold furnishings.
Trump wrote on Truth Social in October that the bathroom was last renovated "in the 1940s in an art deco green tile style, which was totally inappropriate for the Lincoln Era."
