First lady Melania Trump returned to the White House in January with a new look, but when it comes to interior design, she’s staying the course.
Tham Kannalikham, a New York-based interior designer with a passion for historic preservation, worked with the Trumps on the interiors of the People’s House during their first term. She recently confirmed by email that she is back on the job.
“We are privileged to help create a home while contributing to the history of the White House for a second time,” Kannalikham wrote. She called the experience “humbling and inspiring.” The Laotian American designer keeps a low profile — even her website is accessible only with a password — and only agreed to answer questions by email. She has rarely shared specific details of the work she has done with the Trumps.
She said her top priority over the past few weeks has been to restore the Oval Office and the private quarters upstairs to pretty much what they were during President Donald Trump’s first term. That task was made somewhat easier by the fact that the Bidens didn’t change much upstairs during their time in the White House, she wrote.
Former first lady Jill Biden “retained much of the design intact, with only a few select pieces of artwork and furnishings swapped out,” Kannalikham said. The Bidens never formally selected a designer to work with them throughout the White House, although Los Angeles designer Mark D. Sikes did overhaul Jill Biden’s East Wing office in shades of blue and white.
On Inauguration Day, White House staff helped Kannalikham and her design team of two return the Oval Office to its 2017 look. They hauled in Ronald Reagan’s terra-cotta rug, a design with sunbursts radiating from a four-foot presidential seal. Flags from the armed services have been put back behind the Resolute Desk, the same desk used by Trump and Joe Biden and many others before them. One thing they didn’t have to change: the Bill Clinton-era gold Scalamandré swagged silk curtains that Kannalikham resurrected during Trump’s first term that remained in place during the Biden years. That saved the team from having to do a time-consuming drapery installation.
The Oval Office continues to evolve. A row of nine historic gilded decorative pieces from the White House collection was recently placed on the mantel, glistening in the background during Tuesday’s meeting between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. William G. Allman, former White House curator and a co-author of “Furnishing the White House: The Decorative Arts Collection,” identified the items. The five pieces at the center are English gilded silver received in the Dwight D. Eisenhower years; the tall gilded bronze urns were purchased in 1817 during the James Monroe administration; and the two 1815 gilded bronze French figural baskets were a gift during Richard M. Nixon’s presidency. Other recent changes: hanging Charles Willson Peale’s 1776 portrait of George Washington over the mantel and adding two elaborate gilded mirrors to the growing Oval Office gallery wall.
Kannalikham also settled the family into the private quarters upstairs, “moving furnishings, mattresses, artwork, and rugs back to align with the previous design direction,” she said in an email.
