The Oval Office.

The Oval Office underwent a revamp while US President Barack Obama was on a recent holiday with his family. We look at the changes made to the famous office, plus take a look back at the decor favoured by previous presidents.

The Oval Office was completely redecorated, including new sofas, paint and wallpaper, the White House said on Tuesday. The announcement came just hours before the president spoke to the nation on Iraq from this symbolic seat of his administration.

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The work was done while Obama was vacationing with his family on Martha's Vineyard, an island off the coast of Massachusetts, from August 19 to 29.

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The centerpiece of the redecoration is the new rug, which is yellow, cream and blue and has five inscriptions woven into it, four quoting Obama predecessors and a fifth from civil rights champion Martin Luther King, Jr.

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The president's desk, a gift from Queen Victoria to the United States in 1880 and built from the timbers of the British arctic exploration ship Resolute, remains in place.

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From left: A portrait of George Washington hangs on the wall; family photos are displayed behind President Obama's desk, and a bust of late US civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. has replaced one of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

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Located on the south side of the West Wing of the White House, the Oval Office is the symbol of executive power and the place where presidents sign laws, receive foreign leaders and deliver speeches to the nation on matters of high moment. In a photo from February 2009, Obama is helped by Vermont Governor Jim Douglas to move a couch in the office.

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This February 2008 file photo shows a view of President Bush's Oval Office. Presidents typically put their own touches on the Oval Office early in their terms. Bush brought in a rug designed by his wife, Laura. It included radiating stripes, which he often said suggested to him the optimism of a sunrise.

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President Clinton's Oval Office is seen in this picture from September 1993. The Scott Group of Grand Rapids, Michigan made President Clinton's Oval Office rug, and also made President Obama's new rug.

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This photo released by the White House from January 1990 shows President George H.W. Bush's Oval Office. Bush's redecoration of the Oval Office included a new rug with a gold Presidential Seal, new draperies, a coffee table and two tall armchairs.

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The Resolute desk in President John F. Kennedy's Oval Office is seen in this picture from February 1961. The desk was installed in the Oval Office by Kennedy, and has since been used by Presidents Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.

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