With Nancy Reagan's passing this weekend, the country is remembering her work to fund Alzheimer's research and battle drug abuse — as well as her 50-year support of her husband, Ronald Reagan. Along with social and health causes, the First Lady also made an important impact on the country's most famous home: the White House.

Two decades after Jacqueline Kennedy's renovations, the Reagans moved into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and discovered a state of disrepair. The plumbing and wiring were old-fashioned, the floors needed work, and the draperies were "falling apart," according to the Reagan family's go-to designer, Ted Graber.

Thanks to the First Lady's careful attention to detail and decidedly good taste, the White House underwent a 1981 renovation that helped restore the residence to its former glory. While the public criticized the costly redecoration, she actually secured most the $1 million budget from private donations instead of government funds.

"This house belongs to all Americans," she once told Architectural Digest. "And I want it to be something of which they can be proud.''

See some of Nancy Reagan's lasting legacy below.