When I moved into a new studio apartment last year, I had the opportunity to live out my DIY YouTube girl dreams and design it to my liking. But it turned out to be harder than I thought. Since I couldn’t afford to hire a designer, I decided to try out some of the ai-powered generative design apps I’d seen on the internet.
ai-powered design tools started appearing around the same time ChatGPT came out. They come in many different flavors, from platforms where you upload a photo and type a message and the ai overlays a new image on top of it, to platforms that suggest new styles for you to try out.
I decided to test a couple of ai chatbots (ChatGPT and Gemini), an ai assistant for Ikea retail stores, and three design apps (Spacely ai, Decoratly, and RoomGPT). I uploaded photos of my apartment to the platforms and wrote two messages to those that had a message box: “Give me a storage solution for this area” and “Transform this picture into a mid-century modern living room.”
Below are brief summaries of how each fared.
ChatGPT and Gemini (obviously) weren't explicitly created for design, so the most I was hoping for was some suggestions and maybe an edit of the photo with some information about the elements you chose.
I got something of what I expected. ChatGPT and Gemini both gave me storage suggestions, and ChatGPT told me what materials I should look for to keep the room in the mid-century modern style. Neither chatbot was able to change my photo or generate their own living room designs in the style I had chosen.
ChatGPT is free for a limited number of messages; otherwise, it costs $20 per month. Gemini is free, but the advanced version with enhanced ai models costs $19.99 with a Google One membership.
Last February, Ikea created a custom version of ChatGPT so shoppers could ask questions about furnishing their living spaces and receive suggestions on styles and furniture. I uploaded a photo of a corner of my living room — which, admittedly, featured a messy pile of exercise stuff, vinyl records, a bookshelf, and some general junk — and checked out their suggestions.
To store my yoga mat (and a travel pillow it mistook for a yoga mat), the Ikea chatbot suggested I buy a storage rack and other “decorative items” (it also suggested I add a bookshelf, even though there was already one in my photo).
Unsurprisingly, after suggesting storage solutions, Ikea wanted me to buy their products, so I gave them rough measurements of the space and told them I’d love to find items that evoked a mid-century modern style but with dark wood. They responded with photos of the items and told me where to find them. Despite all that, it still felt more like a search tool than a design app.
The best option is probably Ikea mobile app not based on ChatGPTthat uses augmented reality to help you imagine what your space would look like by overlaying their product on your home.
Ikea's custom GPT is free. OpenGPT Store.
One of the most recommended ai-powered design platforms on social media is Spacely ai. After uploading a photo or choosing a template, users can redesign a space, furnish an empty room, or edit a photo using written prompts.
I asked Spacely to reimagine my space with a mid-century modern design featuring mostly wood furniture. Spacely is more customizable than other platforms, allowing me to control how closely its model follows my cues (like preferred style, color palette, etc.). However, customization options are very limited in the free version; if you want to do more than just try it out, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan.
Spacely had a basic idea of what I wanted, but the images it generated didn’t meet my goal. For example, I accidentally uploaded a photo that included two plastic containers and a lemon, and the ai generator transformed the two objects into… decorative items, I guess. The plastic containers became wooden cylinders, and the lemon is either a rock or a rotten fruit. (Unfortunately, it’s still normal for weird things to appear in ai-generated images.)
Spacely ai Pro costs $20.75 per month for an annual plan or $39 for a monthly subscription to get unlimited prompts, watermark-free photos, and high-resolution downloads.
Decoratly also transforms photos into a specific style. It's very limited for free users. Before I subscribed, I could only upload my photo and hit the quick redesign button to generate a generic layout full of black and white furniture and no personality.
When I upgraded my account to Pro, I was able to use Decoratly’s “Create a Message” feature and its image filter, which lets you give instructions on what you’d like the app to create. Unlike other ai message makers I’ve tried, Decoratly didn’t let me type my own messages. Instead, I had to choose from a set of prepared words to describe the style, color, material, and texture I wanted to see in the transformed photo.
I chose the words “mid-century modern,” “dark,” “gray,” “wood,” “metal,” “plain,” and “neutral” for my room. The new photo she created looked more like a real room with a distinct style than the ones I got from the other apps, though some of her choices could be odd, like putting a sort of table on top of the cylinder she turned my electric fan into. Also, she put my monstera plant in a tiny pot that would have fallen over in five seconds.
Decoratly costs $12 per month for unlimited designs and additional features. A 24-hour ($3) and seven-day ($6) trial is available.
Of the dedicated ai design platforms I tried, RoomGPT was the most disappointing.
I felt like the app did the bare minimum to redesign my space. It changed a couple of elements to meet the brief (for example, it added a couch to a room that didn't have one), but it also completely removed my TV and media console and never transformed the room to fit the style I wanted.
RoomGPT works on a credit system, where each render is worth one credit. The free version offers two free credits. After that, there are three payment tiers based on the number of credits or room designs: $9 for 30 room designs; $19 for 100 designs; and $29 for 200 credits.
Hoping for something better
In short, none of the ai apps I tried really helped me design my home. The most they did was show me the types of furniture that might fit the mood I was going for, something I could have done anyway with a quick Google search. None of them were able to discover a new style for my space or really reinvent my apartment. As with other things, ai isn't really ready to design our living spaces.
