When you watch the President's speech tonight from the Oval Office, look closely! It's had an Extreme Makover, White House style!
You may already know that each President decorates the office to their taste, usually with historic pieces that have some sort of significance to them. President Obama has been using the office for a year and a half, but it's largely been President Bush's style!
Here's a list of some of the changes - and video of the new digs below!
- New and reupholstered furniture, new paint and wallpaper.
- New rug (Details: it's a wheat, cream and blue colored oval-shaped rug and it' is made of 25 percent recycled wool. It has the Presidential seal in the center and historical quotes of meaning to President Obama around the border.)
Here are the quotes on the rug:
- "The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Fear Itself" - President Franklin D. Roosevelt
- "The Arc of the Moral Universe is Long, But it Bends Towards Justice" - Martin Luther King, Jr.
- "Government of the People, By the People, For the People" - President Abraham Lincoln
- "No Problem of Human Destiny is Beyond Human Beings" - President John F. Kennedy
- "The Welfare of Each of Us is Dependent Fundamentally Upon the Welfare of All of Us" - President Theodore Roosevelt
Other changes:
- The armchairs in front of the fireplace have been reupolstered with a caramel colored leather
- A new desk chair for the President
- A new coffee table
- New custom made couches
- And two new table lamps
Oval Office makeovers are not done on the taxpayer's dime. The White House statement noted that both President Clinton and President George W. Bush engaged in "a comparable level of redesign" with funds from their Presidential Inaugural Committees to the White House Historical Association.
Asked how much the redo cost, the White House press office said it was "in line with the amount spent by Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush on the redesigns of their Oval Office."
The Oval Office re-do is apparently only the beginning for the Obamas. Up next: the Yellow Oval Room, Center Hall and West Sitting Hall.
So, what happens to the old Oval Office decorations? No, they're not going to the thrift store, or on Ebay, everything will remain the property of the White House and will be placed in a storage facility.
