The Audacity of Taupe
Bill McGurn ·
Sep. 2 at 8:31am
OK, I pinched that title from Lucianne.com, simply because it was too much to resist. The link was to a Daily Caller story about the newly redecorated Oval Office. By now most of us have seen the photos. Am curious what the Ricochet community makes of the re-do.
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Jul '10
Re: The Audacity of Taupe
Oh, come on, Bill: with Recovery Summer having been such a smashing success, all the rest of us are busily redecorating our tents and refrigerator cartons.
And all you can do is whine about a freshening-up of the Presidential Palace?
Jun '10
Re: The Audacity of Taupe
The furniture looks like something I'd pick. That's how I know it's probably inadequate for the Oval Office.
Jul '10
Re: The Audacity of Taupe
I'm surprised that they didn't install 3/4-scale furniture in order to enhance the perceived stature of POTUS.
May '10
Re: The Audacity of Taupe
It is a further expression of the man's narcissism in my view.
The oval office is not Barack Obama's den. It is a site at which our head of state hosts other heads of state. Is it really that important to hide stains? Can you imagine the Queen of England trying to launch herself from deep inside the over-stuffed sofa? Was it so important to denigrate the Laura Bush carpet design that you had to run out to Home Dept for carpet remnants? And the coffee table? Was it purchased from an ad in the back of in-flight magazine?
But the entire project fits the Jimmy Carter presidency theme. And won't it feel good when the next occupant of that office can symbolically restore its dignity by putting the sofas out on the curb.
Re: The Audacity of Taupe
I think I could make a pretty funny short film of just people like Barney Frank and Larry Summers struggling to get up from that sofa.
Re: The Audacity of Taupe
As much as I hate to do it, I must say that Maureen Dowd has it right this time:
Re: The Audacity of Taupe
It could just be a coincidence, but all the brown, beige, and taupe brings to mind the "earth tones" that Al Gore adopted at Naomi Wolf's insistence. One can only hope that the new palette will be equally effective for Obama.
May '10
Re: The Audacity of Taupe
I saw all the same stuff at IKEA. I was looking for the photo of TVG wielding the Allen wrench to assemble the couches.
Re: The Audacity of Taupe
Where are they putting the Churchill bust?
Aug '10
Re: The Audacity of Taupe
Well, depending on why the stains are there, maybe yes.
To me, the renovation looks more opulent, not more casual and family-friendly. Maybe because it's all matchy-matchy... to my family, furniture that actually matches and isn't broken is beyond our pay grade.
I don't hate the renovation. It seems fine to me. Hard to get my knickers in a twist over it.
May '10
Re: The Audacity of Taupe
Isn't the Oval Office supposed to have, like, maybe some blue, maybe red, rather than done in some Land's End catalogue color? It feels like a sensory deprivation chamber. Perhaps he felt he needed one.
Jul '10
Re: The Audacity of Taupe
What's next? Spinning chrome hubcaps on the Presidential Escalade?
Jun '10
Re: The Audacity of Taupe
Whatever the make-over cost (being color blind I can't tell much about the aesthetics) it's a much-needed boost to yet another strategic American industry: the interior decoration sector of the economy.
Re: The Audacity of Taupe
Thanks for putting this up, Bill, because it reminded me that I've been meaning to ask you what you make of the re-do. You and I have both trooped in and out of the Oval Office a fair amount, and I myself find the new look of the place, well, just all wrong. In place of the austere, serene beauty of the cream-colored walls--walls that matched the exterior of the executive mansion itself, tying the Oval Office in with the entire federalist look and feel of the White House--in place of that simplicity and beauty we now have...striped wallpaper? The most august office in America now looks like a room in an Embassy Suites.
That's my take, anyway.
Yours?
Edited on Sep. 2 at 11:41amMay '10
Re: The Audacity of Taupe
Perfect. My vote for quote of the week.
Jun '10
Re: The Audacity of Taupe
This comes perilously close to pimp my ride, Kenneth!
And I won't hear anymore talk of couches on the curb, that might be OK in the hood, but we talkin' uptown here. The way you guys are dissin' you'd think somebody put gnomes and lawn jockeys in the rose garden.
Jul '10
Re: The Audacity of Taupe
Bland. So very, very bland. Which seems...fitting. I also was troubled to find myself agreeing with Maureen that this was completely tone-deaf (even though I think the cost is covered by some preservation society or other, instead of the American taxpayer). It was another area where a message could have been sent about personal spending and the need for sacrifice, for all of us to put off as much frivolity as we can stand until the crisis has passed, and instead...the administration chose to highlight (once again) that no matter what is expected of the rest of us, a different set of rules apply to them. Which is even more tasteless than that wallpaper.
Re: The Audacity of Taupe
Hmmmmn. All very astute. I have to say I enjoyed the Daily Caller's take:
Jun '10
Re: The Audacity of Taupe
I want the old capet. Can they put it on ebay? I'd bid.
May '10
Re: The Audacity of Taupe
If you switched out the coffee table for a train table and placed some big plastic primary-colored toys along the wall, it would look a lot like my family room, minus the wallpaper. It needs some more punch - like a big modern art piece. I don't understand why they covered the chairs in leather. They are leather, right? The first thing that came to mind was that those chairs would cause a lot of embarrassing "that wasn't me, that was the chair" comments at photo ops/press conferences. I can see Obama and Netanyahu sitting there, and O's trying to give Israel a tongue-lashing while trying not to make farting noises. Good one, champ!