A 40-year-old space is getting a new face. The smell of fresh paint is replacing musty odors. Rooms that were previously empty and bare have in the last two weeks been trafficked by throngs of building workers rushing to and fro.

The spaces were last used by President Sukarno's State Guests. But when Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was elected president and announced he would live at the Palace, the six-storied building on the west side of the State