Politics - News Analysis

Melania Goes to Battle With the WH Over Her Renovations, Claims Her ‘Tireless Efforts’ to ‘Beautify’ Residence Have Been Ruined

When the White House Historical Association released its new guidebook on the executive mansion, it left Melania Trump absolutely fuming. She insisted it showed a minimal amount of the restoration work that she did and that “her deliberate styling of the furniture and accessories was significantly rearranged,” The Daily Mail reports.

The 60th-anniversary edition of The White House: An Historic Guide, offers readers a glimpse inside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and includes photos of the private rooms on the second floor where presidents and first ladies reside. Released in the summer of 2022, the book features numerous photos of Melania’s decorative attempts. She made preserving the 230-year-old White House a top priority during her time as first lady.

The rooms that she refurnished that are featured in the book include The Yellow Oval Room, the Queen’s Bedroom, and the Center Hall in the upstairs residence.

But Melania is crying foul, claiming the photos don’t show her work or the work of her designer Tham Kannalikham accurately.

“Unfortunately, the 26th Edition of The White House: An Historic Guide fails to accurately represent the breadth and detail of Mrs. Trump’s design work in and around the White House,” the Office of Melania told the newspaper in an exclusive statement.

Her office also claimed that Trump’s layout and the styling of the furniture were “significantly rearranged.”

“Preserving the history of the People’s House for future generations was something that Mrs. Trump was very passionate about and took very seriously. She and her design team worked tirelessly to beautify the White House, but only a small amount of their creative execution adorns the pages of this book. In fact, her deliberate styling of the furniture and accessories was significantly rearranged throughout the book’s images,” per her office.

However, her office didn’t detail the changes or what furniture had been rearranged.

Each first family puts its mark on the White House: the Obamas also redid the second floor residence, above is the Yellow Oval Room as seen in a shoot published in Architectural Digest – Melania Trump redid this room as pictured below
The Yellow Oval Room on the second floor that served as the Trumps’ living room and was refurnished by Melania Trump

Melania is pretty miffed, nonetheless. One source familiar with the former first lady’s redesigns said “The Association slighted Mrs. Trump and her design team, who helped by deliberately leaving out details regarding the work they did. It is extremely disappointing.”

“It is very unprofessional that no one from WHHA reached out to Mrs. Tham Kannalikham, who worked closely with Mrs. Trump on all of the White House projects. They were both blindsided by this book, which lacks many facts,” the source added.

The Second Floor Center Hall under the Obamas was decorated with classic 1960s-style upholstery, antiques, and a midcentury coffee table; Melania Trump lightened the walls and removed much of the furniture below
The Center Hall on the second floor was another area Melania Trump restored

DailyMail tried to contact the WHHA, which didn’t respond, but the charitable nonprofit institution was founded by Jackie Kennedy as a way to educate and preserve history. And every first lady, Melania included, has served as the association’s honorary chair. The guidebook sells for $22.95.

Melania Trump also restored part of the state rooms in the White House, including the Red Room as seen above

Melania has been heavily criticized for her often garish Christmas displays and for the way she “renovated” the White House Rose Garden. Which now looks rather cold since so many beautiful trees were removed and the garden is now quite devoid of color.

Maybe someday we’ll quit hearing that she’s so angry about all this, but it doesn’t seem to be happening any time soon. But do we really care what Melania did or didn’t do at the White House anymore?

The White House kitchen as seen in the new guidebook
The above photo shows how the White House staff store paintings that aren’t being hung around the executive mansion
Revamped bowling alley and added new bowling balls that were embossed with ‘The President’s House’
The new guidebook shows behind-the-scenes areas such as the private swimming pool for the use of presidents and their families
The historic Lincoln bedroom on the second floor of the White House
meet the author

Nicole Hickman James is a lifelong Democrat and political activist who first cut her teeth as a teenager volunteering for Mike Dukakis’ presidential campaign. She has worked and volunteered for John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, HFA (Hillary For America), and Organizing For Action. She’s passionate about liberal and progressive causes and considers President Obama her favorite president ever. She holds her Bachelor’s from Boston College in Economics and her Master's from Columbia, also in Economics. When not working as a writer, she enjoys traveling and spending time with her three college-aged children.

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