As an interior design obsessive, I love nothing more than decorating and looking for new ways to spruce up our home. And since I write about home decor for a living, that means constantly browsing online for ideas, or creating Pinterest boards for style inspiration.
But whilst I take inspiration from the abundance of beautiful rooms, it always seems to fall short of exactly what I have in mind. And if you don’t have the budget to hire a professional to visualize exactly what you want, could AI really take its place?
There’s no ignoring the rise of AI, and its role in our everyday lives. From planning your perfect vacation to even imagining some of the most iconic mythical creatures, there is literally no end to its capabilities. With that all said, I asked ChatGPT to design four rooms in my home — and to find out whether it was better than an interior designer. Here’s what happened.
Living room
First, I started with my living room design. Since I love taking inspiration from my travels, I wanted to recreate a Moroccan-style living room, but with a modern touch. My prompt was:
“Generate a 16:9 image creating a Moroccan-style living room for my home with modern accents. Here are some details about my tastes and preferences: Neutral tones for the ceiling and walls. Rustic accents and wooden features. Modern furniture and brass accessories.”
The generated images did an impressive job, and I loved the way it fused traditional Moroccan design with modern touches such as the grey sofa and floor rug. It also did well with the rustic accents, such as the coffee table, although I wasn’t too keen on the wooden ceiling rafters.
Also, one key thing that was missing here was a spot for one of the best TVs — or any other home entertainment for that matter. However, that's probably due to the fact that I didn’t specify those in the prompts, so it wasn't a real deal-breaker. In fact, I was so taken by the beautiful style details, that I hadn't even noticed at first glance!
My son's bedroom
When my son turned 13, he officially declared he wanted a "teenage" room makeover, clearly outgrowing his love for Disney posters and wooden toys. And so I wanted to design something that reflected his passions — mainly anime and of course, gaming. He also prefers the colors blue and white, and cool LED strip lighting. My prompt was:
“Generate a 16:9 image creating a teenage boy's bedroom who loves gaming and anime. Here are some details about my tastes and preferences: Blue and white tones for the walls. Modern accents and features with modern bedroom furniture. Wall art.”
These images surprised me the most, as it cleverly depicted how I had imagined it to look — but even better. The first was the perfect blend of blue and white, with underlighting, and even a blue panelled wall behind the bed — which is a nice modern touch. It also had a couple of gaming monitors on a white desk, and an Anime character wall gallery.
The second image had a window in the room this time, and was bigger. Again, it came tops with the color scheme, modern style and of course, the gaming and anime decor, which I'm sure he would love.
Luxury bathroom
If there’s one room in the house that I’d like to just rip out and do a complete renovation to, it would be our bathroom. While it has a 'safe', monochrome scheme, I wanted some ideas for creating a modern yet luxurious design with bold color. My prompt was:
“Generate a 16:9 image creating a luxury bathroom with a modern style. Here are some details about my tastes and preferences: Bold colored tiles, gold accents and marble features. With tall exotic plants and wooden furniture.”
This image was one of my favorites, and really captured the entire look that I was going for. And while I would never opt for different styles of bathroom wall tiles, seeing the generated image with the various styles was stylish, and certainly had me inspired. I loved the gold shower faucets, towel rail, and decorative accessories — which I would have also chosen. And the large pot plant was exactly what I had in mind.
The second image was a bit more opulent but equally stunning with a gold-colored theme, and black marble features. The tall plants also did well to add a bit of greenery.
If you do have a compact space, check out these 7 hacks to make a small bathroom look bigger. Just avoid these bathroom design mistakes you’re probably making.
Kitchen
Although we renovated our kitchen a few years ago, I was keen to see if AI could replicate the same design, based on my instructions. My prompt was:
“Generate a 16:9 image creating a modern kitchen with white walls. Here are some details about my tastes and preferences: Bold colored tiles, marble floor tiles and countertops. Beige cabinets, chrome accents. Black appliances with succulent window plants.”
The first image was the least impressive, and fell short to what I had in mind. The multi-colored wall tiles looked a little mismatched, and the marble design on the countertop seemed to have “bled” over the side. However, it did well in the functional layout, cabinet style and variety of window plants.
The second image did a better job of creating the kitchen that closely matched my kitchen, and managed to get the style details more on-point. Although, I still wouldn't have chosen those different colored tiles, and perhaps would have stuck to one or two bold colors.
My verdict
Overall, I was surprised at how accurate AI depicted my prompts for each room — but better. I was impressed by most of the generated images, although there were a few design elements that looked a little out of place, such as the kitchen tiling. However, you do need to give ChatGPT as much detail as possible to "fine-tune" the tool, and get close enough results to what you're after.
It was definitely a clever and fun way to see how my dream home would look (if I had a magic wand!), and has given me more advanced options in finding inspiration.
So, before you go ahead with your renovation, or room makeover, it might be worth asking AI to show you what it might look like first. Plus, it’s far cheaper than hiring an interior designer, and would save you money in the long-run too!
