A mirror image of President Joe Biden's Oval Office, left, and President Donald Trump's version, right.

For decades, every president has made the Oval Office his own.

John F. Kennedy specially chose a rug in Harvard crimson, although he did not live to see its installation. Richard Nixon’s office featured a navy rug with gold stars, accented by gold curtains. Jimmy Carter surrounded himself with warmer, more natural shades. George H.W. Bush opted for powder blue as both a floor and window treatment.

The presidents have chosen different sofas, different coffee tables, different books for the shelves, different knick-knacks for the tables and paintings for the walls.

But none have had the aesthetic impact of President Donald Trump.

In his second term, Trump has endeavoured to leave a more lasting footprint on the White House by drawing on his long career in real estate development. He paved the Rose Garden’s grassy center, erected two enormous flag poles and revealed plans to build a large ballroom on the East Wing to host events.

Trump’s Oval Office, though, has been the site of the most striking transformation so far.

President Joe Biden hung a portrait of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt directly above the fireplace, with George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and other notable presidents flanking him. President Donald Trump's fireplace is a study in maximalism centered around a painting of Washington in his military attire.

The iconic space has been positively drenched in gold — curtains, of course, but also vases, frames, trophies, platters and vast amounts of gilding, including shiny curlicued moldings that ensure no part of the wall is left blank. This style iseither Rococoor decidedly not Rococo.

An ivy plant that had adorned the Oval Office fireplace for over a half-century was replaced by lifeless objects. (The Washington Postfigured out the ivy had been relocated to a greenhouse for safekeeping.)

Trump, it seems, has cast aside norms in decorating just as quickly in his second term as he has cast aside norms in governing. Anyone familiar with Trump Tower in Manhattan or his Mar-a-Lago resort in Floridawill not be surprised to see the full extent of his changes to the Oval, given his instinct togild the properties that bear his name.

But that is also why his changes rub some people the wrong way. The White House — the People’s House — is not Trump’s own. First families may make changes to the residence to make it feel more comfortable during their stay, but the Oval Office is not part of a........

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