Michelle Obama Is Decorating The White House With Pottery Barn

Forget fancy design shops; Michelle is working with L.A.-based Michael Smith (clients: Steven Spielberg, Michelle Pfeiffer) to furnish the rooms of Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, with items from the reasonably-priced Pottery Barn and Anthropologie, an Obama staffer reveals in the newest issue of Us Weekly.

Smith says he'll take design cues from the Obamas' "casual style" while "utilizing affordable brands." (The family also brought a portion of their collection of African and Asian art from their $1.65 million home in Chicago's Hyde Park.)

But the girls will use some traditional decor!

Malia -- who is currently reading the Twilight book series (she tackled Harry Potter with dad) -- plans to do her homework from Sidwell Friends School at the desk where Abraham Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation!

But Michelle's goal is keeping her daughters grounded. In addition to doing chores like pouring milk on their own cereal despite a huge White House staff, "pretty much we'll see Michelle and the girls in the White House kitchen, trying to bake something together, and her raising them as if they were still in Chicago," family friend Kim Lightford tells Us Weekly.
source