What does President Donald Trump have planned for the renovation of the White House?

Trump, 80, has spent most of his second term in office focusing on making major changes to various popular sites around Washington, D.C.

The interior and exterior of the White House have become one of the Republican Party frontman’s main targets for remodeling since his January 2025 inauguration.

President Donald Trump’s unknown plan for renovating the White House faces widespread scrutiny. (Photo by Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images)

On July 9, images of a massive tarp covering the scaffolding around the North Portico of the White House began spreading across social media.

Earlier reports suggested the president had plans to redesign the White House’s row of Ionic columns near its main entrance by replacing them with his preferred Corinthian columns.   

The Washington Post divulged in March that the Trump-appointed chair of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, Rodney Mims Cook Jr., backed the idea of switching the pillars.

“Corinthian is the highest order [of column], and that’s what our other two branches of government have,” Cook, 69, told the outlet, referring to the U.S. Capitol and the Supreme Court buildings.  

Trump has yet to provide specific details on what is being done to the White House at the moment or how much the project will cost American taxpayers.

According to CBS News, an administration official claimed that covering the front of the White House has “always been a part of the restoration plan.”

However, Trump did provide some insight into the alterations happening to the 226-year-old house that serves as a symbolic representation of the country.

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“We’ve taken about 150 years of paint off of the columns,” Trump stated on July 6, per NBC 4 Washington. “If you don’t strip the paint off, it gets worse and worse and worse.” 

The New York City-raised real estate magnate and cryptocurrency billionaire was also quoted as saying, “A lot of love is being put into the White House.”

Even though Trump is professing that the White House is being modified with “love,” that intense affection is not being reciprocated by the president’s most hardened detractors.

The news of work crews draping tarps, decorated with similar ionic columns, over the scaffolding on the White House’s North Portico facing Pennsylvania Avenue set off a torrent of reactions.

“They’re either going to be painted gold, or they’re going to have his name carved on them, or both, god help us,” a commenter on X speculated.

One person posted, “Another vanity project the people of the US can pay for with their tax dollars. Who is the contractor this time, the brother of the sister of the golf buddy of Trump?”

“Oh No! Trump is going to name the White House after himself,” expressed a poster, who is likely concerned because the president has pushed to have multiple Washington landmarks, such as the Kennedy Center, be renamed in his honor.

View on Threads

“[Surprisingly,] the cover‑up doesn’t have Trump’s image on it. He usually can’t resist plastering himself anywhere possible, just like North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un,” read another tweet. 

One Threads user suggested, “None of this is Trump’s property. We should sue.” While a second outraged poster on the platform declared, “Trump is turning our house to trash.”  

“Isn’t there supposed to be some oversight before any of this is done? Is there a budget for modifications? Where’s the money coming from? Why aren’t more people screaming into the void about this? It’s NOT HIS HOUSE!” someone else exclaimed.

After becoming the oldest person ever inaugurated as U.S. president, Trump made it his mission to add his personal aesthetic to the White House complex.

The Oval Office and the Cabinet Room are now adorned with gilded ornaments. Borrowing from the flashy decor at Trump’s various private properties, gold decals were added to the White House walls.

In October 2025, the East Wing of the White House was demolished to create space for a $400 million to $600 million ballroom on the grounds, igniting fierce backlash and legal challenges.

Trump also had the iconic Rose Garden paved over to put up lawn chairs and umbrellas in the outdoor area, reminiscent of his members-only Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Recently, Trump announced that a $5 million to $6 million helicopter landing pad is being built on the White House’s South Lawn, which is supposedly being paid for by Sikorsky Aircraft.

“It’s got the seal of the White House on it in granite, in carved granite,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. “It’s really a beautiful thing.” 

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