Jennifer Sheahan: How to use generative AI in home design
GenAI can help designers and homeowners to expand their horizons and work more efficiently, says Jennifer Sheahan. File picture
Hands up who’s used Chat GPT? If you haven’t or are not familiar with generative AI, it is a type of artificial intelligence that takes in information, is able to spot patterns and connections within that information, and is then able to generate content based on what it has learned.
It does not actually know what it is generating; instead, it is producing its best prediction of the right answer based on the information it has learned from. GenAI can produce text, images, audio, graphs, videos — almost anything we can think of in terms of media content.
There are ethical questions around its usage, particularly as those whose content it has learned from had not given their permission for their content to be used in such a way. GenAI outputs are also not reliable. I like to think of them as, at best, a “good first draft” to help get you started or to speed things along.
I use genAI programs such as Chat GPT, Midjourney, or Dall-E if I’m stuck staring at a blank page and struggling for inspiration. I find that once there are a few words or images on a page it’s much easier for me to build on them, even though my final version of whatever I’m working on always ends up being completely different to what I started with.
Almost every industry is being impacted by the evolution of genAI, and interior design is no different. I will always advocate for working with an interior designer where possible — you will get a better outcome plus a good one will save you money in the long run.
I also believe that no technology will ever replace the human element of creativity that ultimately makes a beautiful and cleverly designed home. But genAI can certainly help designers and homeowners to expand their horizons and work more efficiently. Here’s how.
In my opinion, the best use of genAI is to brainstorm and visualise a lot of ideas early in your design journey. Exploring lots of options and having a clear idea of your preferences will ensure you get more out of meeting with an interior designer, and will ensure you make better design choices.
We all have varying degrees of how vividly we can visualise concepts, and I personally need to be able to see as many images as possible before I decide what I like. I love creating mood boards and using Pinterest for this reason, and now genAI has taken that a step further.
With programs like Midjourney, you can use text prompts to create any image you can imagine. You can try this for free at midjourney.com.
Even in my small home, so much effort was spent deciding the right layouts for each room. There were endless iterations and weeks of back and forth. The kitchen was going to be in three different places before ultimately taking up residence in my extension, and finding a comfortable layout to fit lots of people in a tiny dining area with plenty of storage was no easy task.
GenAI can speed up this process by running through lots of different layout options and even furniture arrangements for your home. It can work with awkward shapes and spaces, and find clever storage solutions in places you may not have thought of. I explored a free trial of interiorai.com and was pleasantly surprised with the results. (Note: on their homepage, it says “fire your interior designer” — do not do this!)
One of my favourite ways to use genAI is to get it to come up with concepts that I would never have thought of myself.
As humans, it’s normal for us to be tied to our own ideas. We think we’re brilliant (which we obviously are, darling) and we struggle to let go sometimes when in reality there is often room to push ourselves to expand our creative thinking or to bring in a wildly different perspective. This is where generative AI becomes a partner and a playground for forcing you out of your comfort zone.
You can ask it to come up with strange colour combinations, texture juxtapositions, or style fusions that you may never have dreamed of. The results could be off the wall, or you could discover the seed of a new idea that you can use to enhance your original concept. I use either Midjourney or Dall-E (not free) for this exercise.
https://jennysheahan.com/]jennysheahan.com.
And, thank you both for your questions!
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