President Donald Trump wasted no time diving back into his pet project—renovating the White House—after returning from a golf-and-diplomacy trip to Scotland. Fresh off Air Force One, he toured the under-construction Palm Room alongside his son Donald Trump Jr. and Don Jr.’s girlfriend, Bettina Anderson.
The tour, captured on video, showed the trio walking through a dusty workspace still strewn with a Home Depot bucket, a trash bag, and a protective drop cloth. “It’s not looking too good, right?” Trump remarked to reporters while gesturing at the ceiling. “We’re fixing the ceiling,” he explained, promising new “nice” chandeliers were on the way.
Trump then moved outside to inspect the controversial overhaul of the White House Rose Garden, where he paused for an impromptu news conference while leaning over some bushes.
Radical Redesigns
The Trump-led remodeling blitz began shortly after his return to office in January. One of his first targets was the Rose Garden, which he described as chronically soggy and unsuitable for high heels or outdoor events. In March, he announced plans to pave it over to make it more “functional”—a decision that stirred heated debate in preservation circles.
“This garden was supposed to host events, but it’s always soaked,” Trump said Tuesday. “Women in heels can’t walk on it… and reporters fall into the wet grass.”
Recent photos show that the concrete installation is nearly complete, with the paved surface expected to be ready in time for an unusual event Trump teased earlier this year—a UFC-style fight to be held on the White House grounds in 2026.
The Midas Touch
Inside the West Wing, the Trump aesthetic is unmistakable. The president has installed gold trim on the Oval Office’s crown molding to match gold curtains and a gilded fireplace mantle. Imported gold cherubs, vases, and urns—many sourced from his Mar-a-Lago estate—now decorate prominent spaces, along with drink coasters bearing the Trump name and a gold-embossed crest above one of the main doors.
During a recent Cabinet Room meeting, Trump mused about finishing touches: “Should I gold-leaf the corners? Painting it won’t look right because they’ve never found a paint that truly looks like gold.”
Bigger Plans Ahead
The renovations don’t end with aesthetics. In February, Trump floated the idea of building a $100 million Grand Ballroom modeled after Mar-a-Lago’s. This week, he offered an update, saying construction would begin in two months and be completed within two years. “It’s an incredible structure,” Trump said on his podcast Pod Force One. “Normally, I’d finish a building like that in four or five months—but this one’s special.”
In the meantime, towering 88-foot flagpoles now rise from both the North and South Lawns—another Trump flourish he insists is “not too crazy.”
From gold detailing to concrete landscaping, the president’s signature style continues to reshape America’s most iconic residence—one renovation at a time.
