WASHINGTON ‒ As President Donald Trump's plans for a massive ballroom turns the east side of the White House campus into a construction zone, one person inside the mansion isn't thrilled about the noise: first lady Melania Trump.

Trump, during a Dec. 2 Cabinet meeting, discussed the trucks, cranes and excavators that have popped up at the White House following the October demolition of the White House's East Wing to make way for the future 90,000-square-foot ballroom.

"Every time I hear them, I love the sound," Trump said, adding: "I wouldn't say my wife is thrilled."

"She hears piledrivers in the background all day, all night," the president said of Melania Trump. "They go till 12 o'clock in the morning ‒ day, night, piledrivers. 'Darling, could you turn off the piledrivers?' Sorry, darling. That's progress," Trump said. "But no, we're doing great. I think it's going to be the finest ballroom ever built."

Trump has said his ballroom ‒ which has gone from a projected seating capacity of 650 to 999 ‒ will cost $300 million. The president has vowed to pay for the project entirely through private dollars.

The Trump administration went forward with the demolition of the East Wing, which housed offices for the first lady and her staff, before submitting ballroom design plans to the National Capitol Planning Commission. Early construction on the ballroom is underway.

Although Melania Trump was reportedly not initially keen on the ballroom plans, the president says she is now on board.

"She loved her little tiny office in there," Trump said in a Nov. 11 interview on "The Ingraham Angle" on Fox News when asked about a Wall Street Journal report that the first lady initially raised concerns about the project. "But you know what? She's very smart. In about one day ‒ if you were to ask her now ‒ she says it's great."

The White House said last week James McCrery II, the lead architect for the ballroom project, will continue in his job after a Washington Post report detailed McCrery's concerns about the size of the project and the ballroom overshadowing the main White House building.

Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Sorry, darling.' Melania Trump not a fan of ballroom construction noise

Reporting by Joey Garrison, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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