Deborah Needleman, editor of Domino, wrote a very interesting editorial titled “Free the Blue Room” in today’s New York Times. It brings up a lot of issues regarding preservation, restoration, historical accuracy and theories of preservation (i.e. one could argue that while Jackie’s “restoration” was not technically such, what about preserving the Camelot era for what it was in terms of historic preservation – discuss amongst yourselves…). You can read the entire piece here.

Side Note: Some of Jackie’s maneuvers outlined in the article were downright Jefferson-esque. TJ had marble sent from Italy marked as textbooks in order to save on shipping when building  The University of Virginia.

photo by Pia Fischer as seen at nytimes.com

There were so many good design posts regarding the transformation of the White House yesterday that I thought I’d share a few of my favorite links with you today.

1) Domino has an EXCELLENT slideshow of White House past. Ugh, some of those draperies are just so oppressive! Anyway, word is, during the 1990s you could rent this here Lincoln bedroom for a pretty penny…

This is the Kennedy bedroom:

One of my favorites is this Reagan bedroom. I’d love to see a better shot of that wallpaper. The whole room has a bit of a Greenbrier feel to it:

2) Domino’s Nick Olsen is administering a Nancy vs. Jackie decor smackdown, and it rocks. I applaud the effort it takes to go find all those photographs as well. I’d like a list of all the White House decorators next please!

3) I read about this fun little IKEA decorate the Oval Office app over at Shelterrific. The furniture is completely inappropriate, but it’s fun to play with. I wish they had this app over at 1st dibs…

4) sfgirlbybay’s Maria Trimball mural feature.

5) I’m not usually a fan, but this Architectural Digest article about Nancy and Jackie that inspired Nick Olsen (see #2) is definitely worth a read. Especially the part about Sister Parish kicking a Kennedy kid for putting feet on the furniture and promptly getting the boot from Jackie.

Holy Matchy-Matchy Jackie!

Here’s a better shot of that Reagan bedroom wallpaper. Apparently it’s handpainted Chinese birds. I totally dig it, and it won’t fall into that racist chinoiserie controversy:

6) In Style had several popular interior designers take a stab at an Obama Oval Office. I’m sure you’ll never guess who did the image below:

I tell you what I thought of the three designs over here.

7) I know it’s way out of date at this point, but this fake Obama gmail account over at The Onion still makes me laugh every time I read it!

Photo Credits:

1) Domino.com

4) Maria Trimbell via sfgirlbybay

5) ArchitecturalDigest.com

6) InStyle.com

With my crystal ball intact I foresee that…

1.) You already know who the Obama’s have chosen as their interior designer. If my sense of foresight is broken, the honored designer is Michael S Smith. Smith’s clients have included Steven Spielberg, Cindy Crawford and Rupert Murdoch among many others. His style: “European tradition and American modernism.”

To take a look at Michael Smith’s previous work Read the rest of this entry »