President Donald Trump's Oval Office makeoverdidn't pass muster for one interior designer, who said the facelift looks "cheap" and "tacky."
The White House now prominently includes extensive gold embellishments on the walls, ceiling trim, and fireplace mantle. Trump, no stranger to opulence, included golden drapes, gold cherubs, a gold FIFA World Cup trophy, and gold vases and urns on the mantel.
Newsweek noted it was a departure from previous administrations, such as Ronald Reagan's "warm reds," Barack Obama's "clean-lined earth tones," and Joe Biden's "deep-blue rug."
Interior designer Tommy Landen told Newsweek the Oval Office left its neoclassical roots and in favor of a "tacky" European palace.
"Most presidents do make changes to the Oval Office to make it their own," he said. "However, the changes during this particular Trump term have been really dramatic."
While Landon acknowledged gold can be a "beautiful" design choice, "you can't just overload it."
"When you overload it and just keep adding more and more, it becomes overwhelming. It becomes gaudy and tacky," he said.
The gold overload, he said, clashes with the White House's style, which is meant to conjure images of a young republic.
"It's more baroque and more like what you'd see in European palaces," he said, "which was the antithesis of what they were going for with the design of the White House.