[Liz]

[9YearLurker]

The ballroom makes sense.

As to the gold? Certainly on-brand. Tacky as heck, but what the common man, in his day, used to imagine how rich people were surrounded.

If women are expected to attend rose garden events, I can see the practical merit to the courtyard, though that really means it is no longer a “garden”.

[MayflowerMadam]

I HATE all the gold. It’s gross. His decorating style is “whore house”.

[poconopundit]

Hey Liz, terrific pictures on Trump's renovations of the White House.  And I read the full story written by Miranda Devine. 

Devine's opinion pieces for the New York Post put her on a par with the best business columnists — back in the printed-media boom times when Fortune was mailing 1/2 inch-thick bi-weekly magazines to readers like me.

And her columnist work nicely complements her investigative journalism books such her The Big Guy: How a President and His Son Sold Out America.

I found her background on Wiki fascinating:

Devine... was born in New York, but grew up in Sydney and Tokyo, attending... the International School of the Sacred Heart.  She has a Master of Science in journalism from Northwestern University (USA) and a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Macquarie University.  Devine studied first-year architecture at the University of Sydney, where she was a resident at Sancta Sophia College and worked briefly at the CSIRO's Division of Textile Physics.

[GOPJ]

A ballroom extension is a great idea... looking forward to seeing it.