The Oval Office is getting even more shiny and gold
Donald Trump has always been a fan of gold and is bringing that interior design preference to the White House in a bigly way.
Back in April, shortly after President Trump declared his “Liberation Day” tariffs, which imposed 145% levies on goods imported from China, we noticed some decorative gold “cartouches” slapped on the walls of the Oval Office, highly concentrated around the fireplace, which Trump is increasingly using as a backdrop for his interactions with world leaders.
Intrigued by origins of these arbitrary decorative flourishes, we located some “High-density Home Decoration Polyurethane Appliques Ornament PU Foam Veneer Accessories” on Alibaba that looked very similar, though they’re not a perfect match.
Readers sent along some other possible listings that the White House may have sourced its bling from, and several other news outlets wrote about the new splashes of gold, including The Wall Street Journal, which said Trump had a “gold guy” from Florida whom he flew up to DC in Air Force One to redecorate the Oval. Maybe he gets his cartouches on Alibaba?
Since writing that story, I’ve been kind of obsessed with the White House’s official Flickr feed (yeah, kind of a throwback), looking for signs of new gold on the walls of the Oval Office.
Yesterday, I was looking at a new photo uploaded on July 9 featuring Trump sitting with President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani of Mauritania in front of the fireplace, and wouldn’t you know it? THERE’S MORE GOLD.
It seems the mantle has been reconfigured with nine ornate vessels and a new fancy clock in the middle. This left a little space under the George Washington portrait for a bit more gold, so another cartouche was squeezed in. But there’s more! Two more of the same cartouches were added below the portraits of Martin Van Buren, the eighth president of the United States, and James K. Polk, the 11th president. Another two were slapped on either side of the marble fireplace.
Speaking on Tuesday afternoon during a cabinet meeting, The Washington Post reported that Trump veered off from the agenda to talk about his redecoration efforts, saying, “I love the frame of those pictures. Look at those frames. You know, I’m a frame person. Sometimes I like frames more than I like the pictures.” It seems the Cabinet Room is next up for a gilded transformation now that he’s made a few more changes to the Oval Office.
The fireplace has undergone a complete blingification, an explosion of gold leaf details and new appliqués. Two more on either side of the grandfather clock bring the total to seven visible in this photo.
Back in June, it seemed there wasn’t much empty space for more gold.
After staring at so much bling, it’s easy to forget how simple and sparse the Oval Office once was. This photo of President Biden greeting President-elect Trump has only a few gilded picture frames.
