A life-size replica of the Oval Office located steps from the real one has a new gilded look, after a 25-person crew spent nearly a week bolting, pasting and painting its way through a redesign meant to mirror President Donald Trump's second-term overhaul of his actual workspace. The result includes gleaming vases, golden-hued swirling onlays, two dozen portraits in gilded frames and rococo wall appliqués, all installed inside the replica Oval Office that sits inside a museum near the White House.
The overhaul took place at The People's House: A White House Experience, the exhibit space that first opened its replica Oval Office in September 2024, according to the Associated Press. The replica is built to the same size as the real Oval Office, and visitors can sit in a chair behind a replica of the Resolute Desk. The crew worked from early Monday through late Friday, with finishing touches completed Saturday, per the same report.
Matching Trump's Real-World Redecorating
The redesign tracks changes Trump has made to his actual Oval Office since returning to office, according to the AP's reporting. The AP reports Trump asked his chief of staff to make his altered Oval Office a federal landmark, and that he has said he will miss the Oval Office after leaving the White House.
To get the replica right, specialized designers visited Trump's actual Oval Office while the president was away, the AP reports. North Carolina experts recreated his wall appliqués, an Indianapolis specialist handled 3D scanning and printing of specialized objects, California frame-makers hand-carved gold frames for two dozen portraits, and teams from Canada and Virginia worked on replicas of vases and tabletop pieces. The real Oval Office uses gilded gold leaf to make its colors more brilliant, but the replica crews instead used a paint solution to avoid the wear and tear that gold leaf would suffer from visitor traffic, per the same account.
What Stayed the Same, What Changed
Not everything in the room is new. The replica retains gold draperies dating to Bill Clinton's tenure, couches and chairs from the George W. Bush White House, and a beige-patterned rug from the Ronald Reagan era, according to the AP's account. The museum also kept two mirrors and a copy of the Declaration of Independence. The White House Historical Association previously updated the exhibit to match Trump's first-term style after the 2024 election, the report notes, meaning this is the second overhaul tied to Trump's presidency.
Among the additions are expanded, double-layered portraits around the room. To install everything without damaging the walls, replica crews used laser levels and temporary adhesive, checking placement against renderings of the actual office, though many adornments were ultimately nailed to the walls, per the same reporting.
Why a Replica Exists at All
The replica fills a gap left by official White House tours, which require advance processing through a member of Congress up to 90 days ahead and remain strictly limited to the East Wing and Executive Residence, according to DC Travel Magazine. The West Wing, where the real Oval Office sits, is excluded from those public tours.
The museum occupies a 33,000-square-foot building at 1700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW that cost $35 million to construct, backed by a $50 million endowment raised entirely from private donors including David Rubenstein and Jacqueline Mars, according to Wikipedia. Former First Lady Jill Biden announced the museum project in November 2023, and the museum opened in September 2024.
Free Admission, Independent of Federal Funding
General admission is free seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with online timed-entry reservations and daily walk-up passes available, per the museum's published visiting policy. The museum's costs and endowment were privately funded, and the White House Historical Association is a nonprofit. The association was founded by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in 1961. The museum's gift shop is 1,500 square feet.
Beyond the Oval Office, the museum houses a permanent exhibit featuring a 1-to-5 scale architectural model of the White House with synchronized lighting, narration and interactive tablets tracing the mansion's structural evolution from 1790 to today, according to The Washington Lobbyist. The association also paid $7.25 million at auction last November to acquire Norman Rockwell's 1943 four-panel drawing suite “So You Want to See the President!,” which hung in the West Wing for more than four decades before the purchase; it goes on public view at the museum from June 2026 through June 2027, per a PR Newswire announcement.
