Heavy Lifting Begins on Bush Moving Day

President-elect George W. Bush moved out of the Texas Governor’s Mansion on Monday as he prepared for life in the White House.

“This is a sad moment for us,” he said. “We’ve loved living here.”

Dozens of boxes were stacked nearly to the ceiling in a downstairs parlor and Bush talked briefly with reporters. Commercial movers were taking the family’s boxed-up belongings from the 145-year-old white-columned Greek-revival mansion and loading them onto trucks.

Much of the furniture in the mansion belongs to the state and will remain to be viewed by the 24,000 annual visitors who tour the building. The Bush family was allowed to decorate the 3,000 square feet of private quarters.

Bush, his wife, Laura, and teenage daughters, Barbara and Jenna, who now are in college, moved into the mansion in 1995 after Bush was elected governor.

The mansion holds “a lot of fond memories,” Bush said. “It’s a nostalgic moment for us.”

While the movers picked up sofas and tables, Bush grabbed a small stool. “I’ll carry the heavy stuff,” he joked.

Laura Bush will handle most of the decorating in the White House, the president-elect said, while he focuses on the Oval Office. Bush decorated his Texas office with a collection of about 250 autographed baseballs.

“She’s going to pretty much be in charge of where the furniture goes,” Bush said.

Most of the items the family wants in Washington already have been shipped. The rest will go to the family ranch near Crawford in central Texas, where Bush will spend time before the inauguration Jan. 20.

The family’s ranch home is almost complete, Bush said. Until then, the family will continue to stay in a two-bedroom cabin on the property.

Bush also will spend a few days at Washington’s Blair House. Across the street from the White House, Blair House is used by foreign dignitaries. President Truman lived there when the White House was being renovated.

Bush resigned as governor on Dec. 21 but took more than two weeks to vacate the mansion for his successor, Rick Perry. Perry owns a house in Austin and invited Bush to stay in the mansion until the president-elect was ready to leave.

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