When a new president moves into the White House, they have free rein to redecorate as they see fit.
As President Donald Trump participated in inaugural ceremonies on Monday, dozens of staffers worked furiously at the White House to move former President Biden’s personal items out and Trump’s in.
Some of the decor seen in the Oval Office belongs to the president – such as the family photos both Biden and Trump displayed behind the Resolute Desk. But other items, like portraits of former presidents, the tables, chairs and curios belong to the White House Collection and are selected by the president to be featured during their term.
The look of the Oval Office, from the carpet to curtains and artwork on the walls, is entirely the president’s choice. Here’s a look at what Trump has kept and what he’s ditched from his predecessor:
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Kept: The Resolute Desk
Executive Orders regarding trade lay on the Resolute desk in the Oval Office of the White House on March 31, 2017, in Washington, D.C. (Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images)
All but three U.S. presidents since 1880 – LBJ, Nixon and Ford – have used the famous desk that was gifted to President Rutherford B. Hayes by Queen Victoria that year. Trump used it in his first term, as did Biden, and Trump was pictured signing a flurry of executive actions at the desk on his first day in office on Monday.
Removed: President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s portrait
President Joe Biden sits underneath a portrait of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt while meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office at the White House on Sept. 1, 2021, in Washington, D.C. This was the two leaders’ first face-to-face meeting and the first by a Ukrainian leader in more than four years. (Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)
When Biden assumed office, he hung a large portrait of progressive hero FDR over the fireplace, which became the focus of the room. Biden’s intent was to honor Roosevelt, who guided the nation through the Great Depression and World War II, as the U.S. faced another crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Trump has removed the portrait and replaced it with one of President George Washington, which hung in the Oval Office during Trump’s first term, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Kept: Bust of Martin Luther King Jr.
A sculpted bust of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., adorns a table for an early preview of the redesigned Oval Office awaiting President Joseph Biden at the White House in Washington, DC. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
A bust of civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr. displayed by both Trump and Biden will remain in the Oval Office for Trump’s second term, according to the Journal.
Swapped: Family photos
President Donald Trump after signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thurs., Jan. 23, 2025. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
A collection of Trump family photos now sits on a small table behind the Resolute desk. Among them is a picture of the president’s mother, Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, and a portrait of his father, Fred Trump. Also displayed are a photo of Trump’s eldest three children in formal evening wear; a photo of Trump with his daughter Ivanka when she was a girl; and a photo of Trump with first lady Melania Trump when their son Barron was a baby.
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Biden family photos were previously arranged on this table, including one of his adult children, Beau, Hunter and Ashley Biden.
Kept: Benjamin Franklin portrait
Natalie Harp, an aide to U.S. President Donald Trump, and White House Communications Director Steven Cheung (R) listen as President Trump signs a series of executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 23, 2025, in Washington, D.C. A portrait of Benjamin Franklin hangs on the wall in the background. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
A portrait of Benjamin Franklin that Biden added to the Oval Office to signify his focus on science will remain there during Trump’s term, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Removed: Robert F. Kennedy bust
Robert F. Kennedy Bust behind President Joe Biden during a meeting with Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Petr Fiala in the Oval Office of the White House on Monday April 15, 2024 (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Trump has swapped out a bust of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that Biden placed near the fireplace in favor of a sculpture of President Andrew Jackson called, “The Bronco Buster,” by Frederic Remington. The Jackson sculpture also featured in the Oval Office during Trump’s first term, according to the Journal.
Returned: Winston Churchill bust
British Prime Minister Theresa May (L) and President Donald Trump meet beside a bust of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 27, 2017 in Washington, D.C. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
A bust of Winston Churchill that Biden had removed is back at Trump’s direction. The bronze bust by British American artist Jacob Epstein has been the focus of past controversy. Then-London Mayor Boris Johnson had claimed that President Obama removed the bust upon taking office in 2009 – but the White House refuted that claim in 2012, observing that the bust had been placed just outside the Oval Office in the White House’s Treaty Room.
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Returned: Andrew Jackson portrait
President Donald Trump speaks to the media after signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C, on Jan. 23, 2025. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
A new painting of President Andrew Jackson provided by the White House art collection features prominently in Trump’s Oval Office, according to WSJ. Trump has long admired the nation’s seventh president, a populist and disruptive figure whose election Trump once said “shook the establishment like an earthquake” – not unlike his own victories.
Returned: U.S. military flags
President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., US, on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. Flags representing different branches of the U.S. military are seen in the background. (Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Trump is one again prominently featuring flags representing each branch of the armed services in the Oval Office.
