- The Oval Office has been expanded, renovated, and redecorated several times throughout US history.
- Donald Trump redecorated the Oval Office with many of the same artifacts from his first term.
- Truman renovated the State Dining Room in the '50s, and Jacqueline Kennedy restored it in the '60s.
The White House has 132 rooms, and each new US president gets $100,000 to redecorate them.
With every new president comes new design choices, often reflecting their values and political views.
We traced the histories of three significant White House rooms — the Oval Office, the Blue Room, and the State Dining Room — to see how their designs have changed over the years.
The Oval Office is the president's formal work space.
The office's oval shape was inspired by the shape of the Blue Room on the first floor, according to the White House Historical Association.
It was completed in 1909 under President William Taft.
The Oval Office was designed by architect Nathan C. Wyeth.
A fire destroyed much of the West Wing in 1929, so President Herbert Hoover restored and expanded it in 1930.
Among Hoover's upgrades was the Oval Office's first telephone.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt redesigned and moved the Oval Office in 1934.
Roosevelt expanded the West Wing to accommodate more staff. The Oval Office was moved to the southeast corner of the White House, which had initially been a laundry-drying yard.
He also added details like a ceiling medallion.
The ceiling depicts the Presidential Seal.
First lady Jacqueline Kennedy had the Resolute Desk restored in 1963.
The Resolute Desk was a gift from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880.
President Gerald Ford added his own touch with a burgundy color scheme and striped couches in 1975.
Striped sofas were a popular furniture trend in the '70s.
President George H.W. Bush's Oval Office redecoration included a new rug with a gold Presidential Seal, new drapes, a coffee table, and two tall armchairs.
The armchairs on either side of the Resolute Desk, dating back to Hoover's time in the White House, were reupholstered in blue.
First lady Nancy Reagan designed a new Oval Office rug for her husband, President Ronald Reagan.
The rug featured olive branches along the border and sunbeam designs around the presidential seal in the center.
President Bill Clinton had a new blue rug and gold curtains installed.
The rug was made byThe Scott Group of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
President George W. Bush preferred neutral tones for his Oval Office rug.
The new gold rug featured a sunbeam design.
President Barack Obama added red curtains, striped wallpaper, and a new rug also made by The Scott Group.
The rug featured the Martin Luther King Jr. quote: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.''
During his first term, President Donald Trump reinstalled Clinton's gold curtains, lay down Ronald Reagan's rug, and added a portrait of President Andrew Jackson.
Jackson's treatment of Native Americans, including the signing of the Indian Removal Act, has made him a controversial figure.
President Joe Biden removed Trump's portrait of Andrew Jackson and hung one of FDR, a progressive who guided the country out of troubled times.
In addition to Roosevelt, the wall featured portraits of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton hung together to symbolize the benefits of different opinions.
Biden's Oval Office also included busts of fellow progressives and activists showcased throughout the room: Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt, and labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez.
When Trump returned to the White House for his second term in 2025, he brought back the portrait of Jackson and the Reagan rug.
Trump also reinstated a red button on the Resolute Desk that summons a Diet Coke, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The Blue Room is where presidents receive guests.
The oval shape dates back to President George Washington's practice of holding levees, formal greeting receptions inspired by English court, according to the White House Historical Association.
FDR used the Blue Room as his temporary office while the Oval Office was being remodeled in 1934.
By 1940, Roosevelt cleared out and returned to the Oval Office.
During Kennedy's presidency, the Blue Room displayed various antiques and paintings.
It also featured striped wallpaper.
Heavy blue curtains covered the windows in the 1970s.
The striped wallpaper was replaced with dark blue.
When Hillary Rodham Clinton served as first lady, she unveiled a renovated Blue Room in 1995.
The room was remodeled after the Committee for the Preservation of the White House recommended that it be refurbished.
Most notably, the blue wallpaper was replaced with yellow wallpaper during the renovations.
The Blue Room isn't just for ceremonial greetings. In 2001, President George W. Bush met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair there before addressing the nation in the wake of September 11.
The Blue Room is particularly festive during the holidays.
For the Obamas' first Christmas in the White House in 2009, the Blue Room was adorned with an 18-foot high Douglas fir illuminated with LED lights.
The Blue Room houses the official White House Christmas tree.
In 2021, first lady Jill Biden decorated the tree with doves carrying a banner with the names of every US state and territory.
The State Dining Room is where the White House hosts state and holiday dinners, as well as the occasional meeting.
The menu is usually chosen by the first lady.
The State Dining Room was green during President Theodore Roosevelt's presidency in 1904.
Roosevelt expanded the State Dining Room during the 1902 White House renovation and added a moose head to the walls.
The design stayed largely the same until President Harry Truman renovated the entire White House in 1952.
The renovation cost $5.7 million, according to the Truman Library Institute.
Jacqueline Kennedy restored much of the White House, including the State Dining Room, in the early 1960s.
She conducted a tour of the newly restored White House that was watched by more than 80 million Americans on television in 1962, according to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
During the Reagan presidency, the State Dining Room was decorated with yellow drapes and red tablecloths.
Back when Clinton was the governor of Arkansas, he spoke at the White House in the State Dining Room in 1987.
The State Dining Room was filled with pink flowers to welcome Australian Prime Minister John Howard in 2006.
It featured a cream-colored carpet and matching curtains.
A funky purple tablecloth with green chair cushions brightened up the State Dining Room in 2012 during Obama's presidency.
The tables were set in honor of British Prime Minister David Cameron's visit to the White House.
The Stat Dining Room can transform into a performance space with mood lighting.
The State Dining Room was dramatically lit in purple in 2015 for a post-state dinner reception for the prime minister of Japan.
Trump was the first president since the 1920s to not host a state dinner during his first year in office.
He did host two state dinners during his presidency: President Emmanual Macron of France in 2018 and Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia in 2019.
Biden used the room for meetings and formal events, but he didn't host a state dinner until almost two years into his time in office.
During Biden's presidency, the State Dining Room featured the same curtains and rug from the Trump administration.
For his first state dinner in 2022, Biden hosted French President Emmanuel Macron in a glass pavilion on the South Lawn of the White House.
The event featured a performance by Jon Batiste and a menu including Maine lobster and crème fraîche ice cream.