# You're President. How do you decorate the Oval Office? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 22, 2022, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-president-how-do-you-decorate-the-oval-office/958248 "2022-01-22T22:13:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-president-how-do-you-decorate-the-oval-office/958248/21 "2022-01-23T14:00:05Z")
If I was elected I assume Tommy Chong was a huge help as one of my early supporters. I’d ask Mr Chong to produce glassware suitable for the Oval Office and it would be proudly displayed on my desk. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-president-how-do-you-decorate-the-oval-office/958248/22 "2022-01-23T17:12:18Z")
I have a small thing for Craftsman type furniture - I have a wonderful Stickley chair [this is a moderately good copy of [my Morris chair](https://www.cabinfield.com/product/living-room/clearspring-slat-morris-chair-57099/variant-e42e6e2c?keyword=&gclid=CjwKCAiAlrSPBhBaEiwAuLSDUL3_52ooJumdCougFgcr8kUmCleQ_u4hBDKerlD2xKGrFv0lZXVJgxoC_GMQAvD_BwE)] so I am thinking the grouping of sofas/chairs would be Stickley [matching coffee table and side tables] Matching Tiffany ‘[Dragonfly](https://www.apollo-magazine.com/collectors-focus-louis-comfort-tiffany-glass/)’ lamps, Resolute desk with a very good ergonomic chair. I would have to wander around the Smithsonian and the White House ‘gift’ warehouse for other decorative goodies. Instead of custom loomed carpeting, I would go for excellent quality ‘oriental’ rugs that I am sure are stockpiled in the decorative warehouse. I would like to see if Teddy Rooseveldt’s 1894 Winchester gun is still knocking around, it would make a great wall hanger, maybe I could borrow a few other items of note from the FBI’s “black museum” ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-president-how-do-you-decorate-the-oval-office/958248/23 "2022-01-23T17:51:52Z")
Ironically, one of my vows if I ever won the lottery is to construct a home office that is a replica of the Oval Office. I always figured I’d end up perusing old pictures of the real place for ideas on how to decorate. Since the point of the home office is to seem authentic, I wouldn’t decorate with anything non traditional. Maybe a bust of Ben Franklin, some painting showing the founding fathers at work, and portraits of Teddy Roosevelt, Obama, and Lincoln. The key to a good Oval, though, is the rug. I’d go with something in the blues > **[The Oval Office Through the Years, in Photos](https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/politics/g12090469/oval-office-pictures-through-the-years/)** > > In honor of Joe Biden's first day in the Oval Office, T&C takes a look back at how the presidential office has changed over time. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-president-how-do-you-decorate-the-oval-office/958248/24 "2022-01-23T18:03:05Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I would want a bust of Trump, facing the wall with a dunce cap on. How about a dartboard? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-president-how-do-you-decorate-the-oval-office/958248/25 "2022-01-23T20:13:01Z")
I’d want a rug in medium to dark blues, with the usual Presidential Seal theme. Keep the Resolute Desk, of course. Walls painted white. Rest of the furniture to include wood tones, with either purple or red upholstery. Purple drapes. Various bits of art on the walls, niche, etc. - something with a Jefferson theme, Lincoln, both Roosevelts. Small items symbolizing various religions. Big framed picture of the Earth rising over the Moon. A small model TARDIS to put on the desk next to the small prop from “The Trouble With Tribbles” my late spouse bought many, many years ago, framed pictures of my lost loved ones. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-president-how-do-you-decorate-the-oval-office/958248/26 "2022-01-23T21:54:16Z")
Ditch the bulky eecutive desk for a dual monitor workstation. Bean bag chairs and a cooler filled with ice and Mountain Dew A basketball hoop on the back wall. Dress code is athletic wear and Nikes. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-president-how-do-you-decorate-the-oval-office/958248/27 "2022-01-23T22:05:45Z")
Velvet Elvis Presley paintings Singing ‘Billy Bass’. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2022, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-president-how-do-you-decorate-the-oval-office/958248/28 "2022-01-24T11:55:36Z")
It is still there. My SO worked for the government as a political appointee for Obama and got to play there one evening. She ended up walking home in the bowling shoes they had loaned her. I told her to just keep them, but she returned them a couple of days later. Really, who else would have bowling shoes from the White House? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2022, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-president-how-do-you-decorate-the-oval-office/958248/29 "2022-01-24T12:02:17Z")
I’m basing the entire room off of H.R. Giger’s concept art for Jodorowski’s Dune. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2022, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-president-how-do-you-decorate-the-oval-office/958248/30 "2022-01-24T13:20:10Z")
I suspect that the Secret Service would ask you to consider certain things. For example, don’t clutter up the place. Keep it simple in case some emergency comes up and they need to rush in and immediately see what’s going on. The crush of business would make decorating the oval office very low priority. I’d probably have a few family mementoes and turn the rest of the business over to some White House historical expert. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2022, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-president-how-do-you-decorate-the-oval-office/958248/31 "2022-01-24T15:43:44Z")
I’ve heard all the former oval office furniture and art is in storage. A new President can ask for the Kennedy desk or some sculpture that Truman used. The entire Oval office was renovated after Obama. He kept postponing it until his term ended. There are pictures of the room completely bare. Here’s the renovation link. > **[Photos Give Peek Inside White House During Massive Renovation](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/white-house-renovation-photos_n_598e1c58e4b09071f699c2bb)** > > Doesn't look like much of a dump to us. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-president-how-do-you-decorate-the-oval-office/958248.md?page=1)