The Oval Office looks somewhat suburban, but I’m sure that Hillary will change all that when she moves in!
Interesting to note the timing: I’ll bet you a large number of Bush items (sofas, chairs, the rug, etc) all have gone off to be readied for the GW Bush Library and Museum in Texas for the requisite recreation Oval Office.
Nick, a lot of those items are replicas in the museum. Most of the current Oval Office furniture was simply recovered, like the chairs and the sofas.
Glad you came around Derek, the redecorating is not as awful as I first thought, but not that great either. It looks like my parents living room, minus the ugly lamps, stripped wall paper and way too modern coffee table.
Dreadful redecoration of the President’s Office…can you imagine JFK making Cuban Missle decisions in an earth-toned suburban-furnished Oval Office?
Actually, the sofas are quite different from the previous ones. Take a look at the arm, the back and the length. But they probably figured if they had to get a new rug, why not go all the way.
As for the stripes, they’re growing on me. While the room has a total contemporary edge to it now, the stripes make me think of “Victorian Light” amd might be a nod to Barack’s connection to Lincoln…
Has anyone seen who the decorator was on this?
Also meant to mention the specially made cover that fits over the extension buttons on the phone on POTUS’ desk. Secret Service not taking any chances what with modern photo snooping technology. Like the box/button that’s always near the Prez, the White House does things with style.
The covers on the phones is nothing new, normally there is one on the phone by the fireplace.
The room is just “beige”. There’s nothing appealing about it, actually it looks like a bad episode of, “While You Were Out”. I agree with Derek’s comments about stripes. Might as well add bars to the windows to keep the theme all the way around the room. Those stripes could trigger seizures. The rug is okay, but again Derek is right, the last one was much better. Swing and a miss, Grade = F.
I actually like the stripes — elegant, and the first time wallpaper has been used in the Oval Office for at least eighty years. The rug, well the quotes are the best part. But as to the rest, neither the sofas, the lamps, or that dreadful coffee table fit the architecture of the room. As one commentator has observed, they seem better suited for a 1970s dorm than the Oval Office.
Would like to see a photo of the edge of the rug containing the misattributed quote.
Interesting that the designer Michael Smith was educated in Europe; Jacqueline Kennedy’s designer Boudin brought tone on tone stripes to the (unfairly maligned) 1962 blue room. Historian William Seales has suggested that Betty Ford might love the stripes as she complained the oval walls closed in, carried you up. See Smith’s work in April 2010 ArchDigest. Also Mrs. Kennedy according to Designing Camelot soom learned that white was a no-go in the public rooms (carpet, curtains) so I wonder what shape those white Bush sofas were in after eight years?
The Elliptical Saloon 
Happy Birthday Derek!
The Oval Office looks somewhat suburban, but I’m sure that Hillary will change all that when she moves in!
Interesting to note the timing: I’ll bet you a large number of Bush items (sofas, chairs, the rug, etc) all have gone off to be readied for the GW Bush Library and Museum in Texas for the requisite recreation Oval Office.
Nick, a lot of those items are replicas in the museum. Most of the current Oval Office furniture was simply recovered, like the chairs and the sofas.
Glad you came around Derek, the redecorating is not as awful as I first thought, but not that great either. It looks like my parents living room, minus the ugly lamps, stripped wall paper and way too modern coffee table.
Dreadful redecoration of the President’s Office…can you imagine JFK making Cuban Missle decisions in an earth-toned suburban-furnished Oval Office?
Actually, the sofas are quite different from the previous ones. Take a look at the arm, the back and the length. But they probably figured if they had to get a new rug, why not go all the way.
As for the stripes, they’re growing on me. While the room has a total contemporary edge to it now, the stripes make me think of “Victorian Light” amd might be a nod to Barack’s connection to Lincoln…
Has anyone seen who the decorator was on this?
Also meant to mention the specially made cover that fits over the extension buttons on the phone on POTUS’ desk. Secret Service not taking any chances what with modern photo snooping technology. Like the box/button that’s always near the Prez, the White House does things with style.
My bad, I thought I had read an article stating couches were recovered, looks like just the side chairs. http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/08/obamas-oval-office-makeover-.html
The covers on the phones is nothing new, normally there is one on the phone by the fireplace.
The room is just “beige”. There’s nothing appealing about it, actually it looks like a bad episode of, “While You Were Out”. I agree with Derek’s comments about stripes. Might as well add bars to the windows to keep the theme all the way around the room. Those stripes could trigger seizures. The rug is okay, but again Derek is right, the last one was much better. Swing and a miss, Grade = F.
I actually like the stripes — elegant, and the first time wallpaper has been used in the Oval Office for at least eighty years. The rug, well the quotes are the best part. But as to the rest, neither the sofas, the lamps, or that dreadful coffee table fit the architecture of the room. As one commentator has observed, they seem better suited for a 1970s dorm than the Oval Office.
Would like to see a photo of the edge of the rug containing the misattributed quote.
Interesting that the designer Michael Smith was educated in Europe; Jacqueline Kennedy’s designer Boudin brought tone on tone stripes to the (unfairly maligned) 1962 blue room. Historian William Seales has suggested that Betty Ford might love the stripes as she complained the oval walls closed in, carried you up. See Smith’s work in April 2010 ArchDigest. Also Mrs. Kennedy according to Designing Camelot soom learned that white was a no-go in the public rooms (carpet, curtains) so I wonder what shape those white Bush sofas were in after eight years?