The Blue Room Reopening For Tours

It’s bolder, it’s bluer, it’s golder. The Blue Room, one of the most visited rooms of the White House, has reopened for tours, resplendent in brilliant sapphire blue and with a lot more gilt. Estimated cost - $358,000. Refurbishing is being paid for by the White House Endowment Fund, which used interest on the $12 million it has raised from private donors since 1990.

The Blue Room, last decorated in 1972, had become worn, the draperies frayed and faded. The Committee for the Preservation of the White House recommended in 1990 that the room be redone. According to the White House, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton got involved in 1993, taking “a hands-on approach” in reviewing colors, fabric samples and wallpapers.

The preservation committee says the room has been painted and gilded in keeping with “the style of finish found in an American room of the first quarter of the 19th century.”

In fact, the room did not become blue until 1837.

The 1972 window treatments were duplicated in gold and deeper blue silks by Scalamandre. Walls have been covered in an 1820s gold-ongold pattern, with a bold blue swag border, both by Brunschwig & Fils. All 317 acanthus leaves in the cornice and the ceiling medallion were gilded.

The sapphire-blue color was based on a piece of fabric found on one of the French Empire chairs in the room. The chairs, which date to 1817, were chosen by President Monroe, in whose time the room was red.

The first lady will officially open the room next Friday, but the floor will remain bare for a while longer. The blue and gold rug being handmade by Scalamandre is not expected to arrive before April.