I can’t say I’m crazy about the new look. The stripes make it look a little like an ice cream parlor, and the couches and table are just too modern in that setting for my taste. Having quotations woven into the border of the rug seems weird. I don’t like the presidential seal on the rug where people will step on it, although I know that’s been done for many years, dating back to Truman, IIRC.
The stripes on the walls are iffy and the table in the middle does seem to stand out from the rest of the wooden furniture, but that looks like a really warm and comfortable living room. Whether or not that’s how the Oval Office should be perceived is left to the individual, I suppose, but I like it.
Not sure I’m a fan of either. I liked the blue carpet that Clinton had in there. The Dubya office was just too creamy. It looked like a ladies powder room or something. Now it looks more like an office again, at least, but I think the Oval Office should have a more powerful red, white and blue theme.
This one does look comfortable. Is that the same desk?
(From the “after” pic page) *But history did not go out the door in this redesign. The president held onto the historic Resolute desk, paintings, and other art work he added when he came into office. *
I’d have added a couple of my own, except that you can’t add your own pictures to Flickr galleries. They are of the replica of Ford’s Oval Office in Grand Rapids, Michigan: picture 1 and picture 2.
I don’t like the new couches – they look too stuffed to sit on in dignified way. Fine for watching a movie, but not for having a security briefing. I do like the carpet better, though. I don’t care for the stripey walls either.
It looks more comfortable and more masculine than it did under Bush. I’m not a fan of the coffee table as a style choice, but it appears more usable than the Bush table - which doesn’t even seem to be able to support a cup of coffee.
Its a much more “usable” and “comfortable” room. However, I think the Bush Oval Office was a more attractive room. I love the Bush carpet, but I wouldn’t want my kids, dog, or cabinet secretary walking on it. The Obama carpet is kind of blah, but I wouldn’t feel at all bad if the Secretary of Defense had an accident on it (well, unless he hit the Presidential Seal, that would be disrepectful)
That furniture would look good for a family room, but it seems too comfy for the gravitas of the Oval Office. It’s a couch you would sit in, as opposed to one you would sit on. The leather chairs are OK but the couches are wrong for the room.
The rug has too much of an expanse of tan; there’s not enough character. It needs a pattern of some sort.
The wallpaper is OK, I’d probably not notice it after a couple days.
I like it. I like the absence of patterns on the upholsteries. It’s more calm than all that spindly, fussy furniture that was there before. The stripes look better on the walls than on every single seating surface. It all looks uncluttered but not cold.
I think it looks like an office for a person who wants subordinates to feel comfortable and at ease. Gravitas be damned, it’s a working office, not a showplace to demonstrate how big a dick the boss swings.
I prefer the new look. The darker colors look better. Agree Bush’s over-use of white makes it look like a the interior of a masoleum (granted the camera angles a little crazy on the picture provided, maybe it looks better from a different perspective.
I like everything except the stripey wallpaper, but I like dead plain walls so I can showcase art with no distractions. I think I prefer the much plainer carpeting, and I really like the new coffee table. It looks like a room designed to get down and work in, not hold little tea parties like the Bush one.
