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President Donald Trump is making personal design picks at the White House. Those include gold flourishes throughout the Oval Office, patriotic touches and massive flag poles outside. Just like at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Trump also is installing a stone patio in place of the Rose Garden. The work is being paid for by a nonprofit that also funded work at the Washington Monument. WASHINGTON - Donald Trump once said real estate runs in his blood. In the late 1970s, he made a splashy entrance into the New York City real estate scene with the glitzy transformation of the crumbling Hotel Commodore into the Grand Hyatt on Fifth Avenue. When he bought Mar-a-Lago, the South Florida estate built for socialite Marjorie Merriweather Post, he added a 20,000-square-foot ballroom. In Washington, D.C., he turned the city's historic Old Post Office into a luxury hotel. Now 50 years on, he has a new pet project: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Six months since he moved back into the White House, Trump’s Oval Office is bathed in a sea of gold and gives a glimpse of his maximalist design approach. Gold-colored appliqués on the fireplace, gilded mirrors and ornate Rococo-style 18th and 19th century dessert stands and flower vases from London and France sit on the mantle. The walls are choc-a-block with paintings of former presidents in heavily ornate gold frames. The Cabinet Room has been outfitted with new ceiling medallions and a grandfather clock. “I picked it all myself," he said. "I'm very proud of it." There's even a painting of Trump by an 87-year-old artist who said he was surprised to find out his work was being showcased in the West Wing. Meanwhile, Trump has also ripped up the sod in the Rose Garden in favor of a “gorgeous stone” patio − work paid for by the same nonprofit that funded the Washington Monument's restoration work after a 2011 earthquake − and announced plans to build a ballroom in the White House. He recently erected two 88-foot-tall flagpoles on the south and north lawns of the White House. U.S. President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka Trump look on a U.S. flag is raised on a new flagpole installed on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S. June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque To be sure, presidents for decades have put their own personal touches on the Oval Office and the White House. President Franklin D. Roosevelt built an indoor swimming pool for physical therapy while coping with polio and President Richard Nixon installed a one-lane bowling alley at the White House's adjacent Old Executive Office Building. The Oval Office often gets new carpet and other furnishings for new presidents. Under Joe Biden, it sported a decidedly muted and understated look. Swedish ivy that has been in the Oval Office for decades graced the fireplace mantle, busts of famous Civil Rights leaders sat on desks and a few gold-framed portraits of past presidents hung on the walls. But for Trump, the work feels far more personal. “It keeps my real estate juices flowing,” he told a reporter in February. Penchant for gold President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 16, 2025. One common thread that runs through most of the interior redecoration efforts: a penchant for gold. During a recent meeting in the Cabinet Room, Trump waxed poetic about “gold-leafing” the trims, the need for decorative ceiling medallions around hanging lights and finding the right frames for the new portraits of presidents that adorn the room’s walls. Barbara Res, a former vice president at Trump Organization who oversaw construction, has long been familiar with Trump’s fascination with the color gold. While working on projects such as the Trump Tower and Plaza Hotel, he had been adamant about incorporating polished bronze and brass which can give the appearance of gold, she said. Public areas such as atriums, ballrooms and restaurants were awash with polished bronze or brass on door frames, railings, elevators and ceilings. “He used the word ‘class’ a lot, and it was a high-class thing for him,” Res told USA TODAY. “It conveyed an illusion of taste and wealth, and that's why he wanted to gild everything.” For his Trump Tower triplex apartment in the early 80s, he hired the famed design veteran Angelo Donghia to do up the place. U.S. President Donald Trump meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, where President Trump announces a deal to send U.S. weapons to Ukraine through NATO, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard Taking into consideration Trump’s favorite color and after trying to reason with him ("that’s the worst thing you can do with Donald," said Res), Donghia introduced subtle gold touches throughout. “It wasn't normal, but it was almost normal,” Res said with a laugh. Trump's sensibility for “highly polished metals” went into overdrive after he visited Russia in the late 1980s, touring such places as the Hermitage State Museum and the Winter Palace, Res said. “He came back, and he changed everything,” she said. “He hired a guy who was a decorator for the high-roller suites in casinos. They have a lot of gold and mirrors everywhere.” After the apartment was done, Res, who then worked in the 58-story Midtown Manhattan building, said Trump brought her up to show her the remodeled place and asked her what she thought of it. “I said ‘how can you sleep here?,” she said. “He was highly insulted by it.” Trump has always had an eye for design details. On his recent presidential visit to Qatar, he admired the white marble in a palace, saying it was “very hard to buy.” “As a construction person…this is perfect marble. This is what they call 'perfecto',” he said. Decorating the White House Now, as commander-in-chief, Trump has access to the White House Vault. A treasure trov