Oval Office Remodel

Every president gets to put their personal touch on the big white house at the top of the hill, some with better taste than others. I must say I was a bit interested to hear what Obama would do and I'm not surprised at his choices. He's the cool,calm and collected president so I expected the decor to be modern yet historic, and evoking of American concepts but multi-cultural still. So here's what happened:

Out with the:

• decorative china plates
• Winston Churchill's bust loaned to Bush by Tony Blair
• Texas landscapes

In with the:

• Native Amercian pottery on loan from the National Museum of the American Indian
• Patent models of historical gagdets pertinent to American history; Samuel Morse's 1849 telegraph register, John Peer's 1874 gear-cutting machine and Henry Williams' 1877 feathering paddlewheel for steamboats
• Bust of MLK

These concepts/items have proven popular over decades:

Oval shape of the office created during William Howard Taft's remodel in 1909

Marble mantle over the fireplace also added during Taft's remodel

Rembrandt Peale painting of George Washington

 

Portrait of Abraham Lincoln by George Henry Story  

 

Tabletop Frederic Remington sculpture, The Bronco Buster