Since returning to the White House in January 2025, President Donald Trump has systematically redecorated the Oval Office in ways that reflect both personal taste and a deliberate projection of power — a pattern that extends well beyond the executive workspace into the broader White House complex. Business Insider documented the changes in its report, Gold, gold, and more gold: All of the changes Trump has made to the Oval Office, cataloguing a suite of aesthetic and functional modifications that distinguish this second term’s interior from its predecessors. For readers following shifts in how the executive branch presents itself — a concern that intersects with signaling and institutional culture — the details are instructive, much as Pentagon procurement culture reflects broader organizational priorities.

The most immediately visible change is the heavy reliance on gold tones throughout the room. Gold-colored drapes now frame the room’s windows, replacing the cooler palettes favored by the Biden administration. The Resolute Desk, a fixture across administrations, sits within a space that Business Insider describes as deliberately opulent, with gold accents reinforcing a visual language Trump has long associated with strength and authority.

Art, Busts, and Symbolic Additions

Beyond color schemes, Trump has introduced a selection of busts, sculptures, and paintings chosen to communicate specific historical and political associations. Busts of figures including Andrew Jackson and Christopher Columbus are present, consistent with choices Trump made during his first term. Business Insider’s broader coverage of White House artwork notes that gold sculptures, Rose Garden statues, and portraits of Trump himself have been added to the wider White House collection during this second term — a scope of redecoration that goes well beyond the Oval Office alone.

The American flag and the Presidential flag remain standard fixtures, but their positioning and the overall density of objects in the room have shifted. Paintings selected by Trump occupy wall space previously given to other works, and the cumulative effect, as described by Business Insider, is a room that signals continuity with Trump’s first-term aesthetic choices while amplifying their scale and intensity.

The Rose Garden has also seen modifications. According to a separate Business Insider report on Rose Garden history, Trump added a new statue to the space, continuing a pattern of using outdoor White House areas as extensions of his broader decorating vision. The garden has changed hands and styles across many administrations, but the current additions mark a distinct departure from the relatively restrained design choices of recent years.

Functional Details: The Diet Coke Button and Other Particulars

Not all of the Oval Office changes are aesthetic. Business Insider notes the presence of a Diet Coke button on the Resolute Desk — a detail that received attention during Trump’s first term and has apparently returned with him. The button, which reportedly summons a butler to deliver the beverage, became a minor cultural touchstone as an example of the personalization Trump brings to the workspace. Its reappearance underscores that the current Oval Office reflects not just a design philosophy but a set of daily operational habits.

The report also references the presence of a large television in the room, consistent with accounts from Trump’s first administration describing his media consumption habits as a regular part of his working day. Taken together, the functional additions — the button, the television, the specific arrangement of objects — paint a picture of a workspace configured as much around personal routine as around formal protocol.

Historically, each incoming president redecorates the Oval Office, and those choices are scrutinized for what they communicate about priorities and identity. Trump’s second-term iteration is notable for the degree to which it amplifies choices he made in the first term rather than moderating or diversifying them — a consistency that amounts to its own kind of signal about how this administration intends to present executive authority.