Interior Designers Weigh In On 'Confusing' White House Holiday Decor

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This week, the White House unveiled its 2025 holiday decor. With the theme “Home Is Where The Heart Is,” the design features rooms filled with ample greenery and a variety of motifs ― all presented through a moody walkthrough video that has already sparked strong reactions.

At a time when the White House has been physically transformed and its public access dramatically reduced, the holiday decorations feel like a symbolic battleground.

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Bloomberg via Getty Images The theme of the 2025 White House Christmas decorations is "Home Is Where The Heart Is."

To better understand the aesthetic choices and general messaging, HuffPost asked interior designers to weigh in.

A Clear Departure From Previous Years

“My first impression was that it felt very different than previous Trump administration years,” said lighting and furniture designer Sara Parker. “In past years we have gotten very theatrical, statement installations, and this year felt more nostalgic, sentimental and whimsical than what we have previously seen.”

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The contrast with earlier Trump White House decor is striking. In 2018, for example, the corridor of blood-red trees made headlines for its dystopian vibe.

“The best thing I can say about 2025’s holiday decorations is that they’re not 2017’s,” said interior designer Annie Elliott. “That all-white branchy birth canal was a travesty.”

Indeed, first lady Melania Trump’s icy white-branch tunnel decor drew widespread ridicule in the first year of the first Trump administration. Months later, the first lady’s former adviser recorded her saying, “Who gives a fuck about Christmas stuff and decoration?”

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