White House briefing room gets a makeover: 'Smells like a new car in here'

It’s “Extreme Makeover: White House Press Briefing Room Edition,” with the famed media workspace getting a fresh new look.

“Somebody on my staff said it smells like a new car in here. And they were not wrong,” Biden press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre exclaimed to journalists gathered Monday inside the James S. Brady Briefing Room.

“You guys look amazing in the new chairs in here, in this refurbished press briefing room,” Jean-Pierre added.

Some of the refreshes for the press area at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. included new blue seats and carpeting, the replacement of storage cabinets and desks, the installation of soundproofing in the booth used by the press corps and a fresh coat of cool, gray-white paint. 

The revamp was completed over the weekend ahead of Monday’s press briefing.

While the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) didn’t respond to ITK’s request for comment on the glow-up, Jean-Pierre gave a shoutout “to everyone who moved heaven and Earth” to “really get this done as quickly as possible.”

“If you saw what this place looked like on Saturday, you’d be shocked,” Jean-Pierre said, praising construction workers, crews, the WHCA leadership and the General Services Administration.

“This was a big undertaking, and the room looks amazing,” she said.

The press briefing room, authorized by President Nixon and famously installed over a swimming pool built for President Franklin Roosevelt, “has been the on-grounds quarters for the White House correspondents and news photographers since its construction in 1969-70,” according to the White House Historical Association. 

The space was “entirely gutted and reconstructed” in 2006.

Alex Gangitano contributed.

Source: The Hill