WASHINGTON — The People’s House museum, just steps from the White House, has updated its replica Oval Office to match the President’s second-term redecoration, and patriots who thought the original was too grand for a working office can now relax: the copy is officially more comfortable than the original.

Gone is the restrained replica of earlier years. In its place, according to the Associated Press’s walkthrough, are gleaming vases, golden-hued swirling onlays, two dozen portraits in heavy gilded frames, and knickknacks crowding nearly every available surface. The museum calls it an update. Americans call it accurate.

For years, critics said the President’s taste was excessive. The replica settles the argument once and for all. When a museum spends real money reproducing a decor style down to the last vase, that is not excess. That is a merchandising decision, and museums do not make merchandising decisions about things Americans don’t love.

“This is the most visited room in America, and now visitors can experience it exactly as the public knows and loves it,” said the exhibit’s design consultant, who described the previous replica as “apologetic.” He is right. The old replica whispered. The new replica introduces itself.

"People kept telling us the replica looked nicer than the real thing, which was making everyone uncomfortable. We fixed the problem by making the real thing the standard. That's called honesty, and it's why we added a second gold vase." — Marguerite Hollis, Definitely Real museum curator, Washington, D.C.

The upgrade also solves a longstanding tourist grievance. Visitors could never quite believe the famous room was so modest. Now the replica matches what every American already pictures when they hear “Oval Office,” which is to say: a room that has clearly been winning.

THE MAKEOVER, BY THE NUMBERS

  • Two dozen portraits in heavy gilded frames, up from a number that was making the room feel like a library.
  • Golden swirling onlays on the walls, installed at a height officials describe as "confident."
  • Knickknacks on nearly every surface, a design philosophy known in the trade as "the desk is doing its job."
  • One replica, one original, and for the first time in American history, the replica is the one visitors find more believable.

Some outlets have framed the gold as a statement. That’s backwards. Gold is not a statement. Gold is a finish. The statement was the original 1801 renovation, when the young republic decided the President’s office should look like something worth defending. This is just the republic following through.

At press time, the museum announced it was studying a companion update to its replica of the President’s favorite bathroom, which visitors had complained felt “underfurnished for the office it serves.”