Why did Mary todd Lincoln redecorate the whitehouse?

Answer 1

The furnishings were shabby, and she felt that the President's House should be competely redecorated. She overshot the Congressional allotment by quite a bit. Lincoln was furious, and declared he would pay the difference himself. He said it would "stink in the nostrils of the American people" if they had to pay for new furniture for "this damned old house" when the soldiers in battle could not have blankets.