Using AI as a Homemaking tool

Can AI finetune your interior design vision?

Turns out AI isn’t as scary as we thought.

A couple of weeks ago we thought we would have fun by asking Meta AI to create different dinner party menus. At first, we were sceptical, but it turned out to be a fun, informative and efficient way of consolidating your thoughts and letting Artificial Intelligence distil them into the purest form of your envisioned meal.

What else can AI be used for?

Generative AI, the kind of AI that makes images, writes fiction and composes music, is everywhere. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if, instead of making our art for us, AI could do the tedious parts of life, freeing up more time for real human creators to invest in their creativity. I want AI to do the laundry, so that I can do the illustration…But that still seems to be a pipe dream. For now, the best we can do is to use the tools we have access to simplify our lives and streamline our thought processes.

A fun way to enter the world of AI and to practice your prompts and processes, is by asking AI to help you design your living space.

Last time we worked with the free Meta AI version you could access through WhatsApp. This time round, because we were asking for proper image generation, we used the big boy AI, Chat GPT.

Prompt: “Please show me a mid-century modern living room in a warm colourway.”

We were pleasantly surprised by what came up and jumped right into tweaking the design. We asked for indoor plants and were not disappointed!

Excited, we moved on to the next room.

Prompt: “Please show a farmhouse kitchen in grey and yellow”

The result was a bit bland, but we could work with it and asked to add fresh produce and a red kettle to liven things up. ChatGPT delivered and we were on a roll!

This whole exercise was so much fun that we would happily have spent the day dreaming up prompts for imaginary rooms in our imaginary homes. However, because we still rely on real humans to create our Weekly Fixes, we had to move on and start the discussion.

Homemaking is a hands-on experience.

Interior design and decorating is a strange blend of mood boards and manual labour. As pretty as the created room might look, you won’t know if the dimensions of your real life furniture will mesh well with how you live in the space and move around.  The same goes for material finished, fabrics and trims. You won’t know if it works until you live in it, sit on it, and touch it.

Knowing this and considering the surprisingly accurate images generated, we now ask: Can AI be a useful tool to fine tune your design vision?

In short, yes. Where AI can help you out is by compiling colour schemes and tweaking accents. The final decision about furniture will rely on what you already own or what is available, but AI can paint you’re the walls and swop the floor and window treatments. AI can add wallpaper and curtains. Ai can do the heavy lifting.

Prompt: We asked for a room with a window, and a dark floral aesthetic.

The resulting image was, once again, a bit bland, but then the magic started when we played around with fabrics for the bedlinen.

Adding sunshine also had a major effect on the vibe of the room.

What this proved to us, is that, if you know which prompts to use, and are careful with your feedback, generative AI can be immensely helpful when it comes to making changes to your existing living spaces as well as being truly inspirational when it comes to imagining your dream house!

The idea of using AI as a design tool, isn’t that new, and we enjoyed this article by Apartment Therapy, which goes further into the how and why of AI as design assistant.

If you are planning on using AI as part of your design journey, best remember these Top Tips:

• Be clear about what you want before you start asking.

If you are confused, you will confuse the tool.

• Use a reputable AI tool with realistic rendering.

A badly rendered image or an unrealistic, unfeasible design will only frustrate you.

• Remember to have fun!

This is a whole new world of homemaking, so don’t be afraid to experiment with prints and colours.

• Don’t get swept up in consumerism.

It is important to remember that AI doesn’t have a budget. If it shows you a room, it’s working with the entire internet’s worth of images and inspiration. Just because it shows you something, doesn’t mean your design can’t work just as well without that element.

As with social media, don’t believe everything you see and keep your wits about you. Other than that, happy Homemaking!