After Monday’s unveiling of the Oval Office redecoration, one interior designer suggested that perhaps the influence of President Obama’s conservative opposition may be reflected in the room’s new simplicity.
“I wonder if the treacherous political climate has caused the Obamas to become more aesthetically conservative?” interior designer Celerie Kemble, of New York and Palm Beach, said after photos of the redecorating were released.
The sprucing up the Oval Office took place while the Obamas vacationed in Martha’s Vineyard last week. When they returned to the White House, new wallpaper adorned the walls, the red and white couches were ditched for more casual brown sofas and a simplified rug covered the floor.
Kemble suggested the room could be more reflective of the first family. “As a designer, I’d rather see a little more personality,” Kemble said, “but then I don’t have to get an immigration bill through Congress next session.”
But not everyone finds the room necessarily boring. Well-known New York designer Vincente Wolf told The Daily Caller he finds the Oval’s new look “really stylish,” and said he prefers Obama’s new digs to “the stuffiness it had in previous times.”
“I think that what’s so nice is the… sense of a natural coloration, which I think reflects our time right now. It’s a much more youthful approach,” he said.
Wolf continued: “I think it’s trying to have relatable quality to the people, and I think that when people come…I think that the coloration and the style makes him more kind of human than regal.”
With Tea Party activists decrying what they describe as out of control spending by the government, designer Sheila Bridges told the Washington Post that the makeover does not appear to be “over the top.”
“It’s appropriate for where we are in the country right now. I can’t imagine spending a tremendous amount of money on it when we have been in a recession and two wars,” she said.