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Interior designers are increasingly seeing clients bring AI-generated room images as inspiration, only to find that some featured furniture, layouts or construction details cannot be reproduced in real homes. Designers say the images can blur the difference between a concept and a completed project, while making it harder to show clients what practical experience looks like.
Interior designers say AI-generated room images are increasingly turning up in client inspiration boards, even when the pictured furniture or layouts cannot be built or bought. A Livingetc report based on the experience of designers Kelly and Graeme Smith describes how the images are blurring the boundary between visual concepts and completed interiors, creating new work for studios that must explain what is feasible.
The Smiths, who have worked in interior design for around two decades and founded the studio SPELK., say clients now sometimes arrive with polished images generated from a photograph and a prompt. The images can appear to show a finished room, but details may not correspond to available products or workable construction. According to the report, a design might include doors that cannot open, drawers without room to slide, or a layout that would not meet building regulations.
The issue is not limited to whether an image was generated by AI. A convincing picture does not show whether its creator can handle the practical work of a project, including procurement, budgets, schedules and coordination with tradespeople. The Smiths say they label AI images and visualizations when they post them, but people may scroll past captions or save images without knowing how they were made. The report also says clients have brought them AI images they had pinned without realizing they were synthetic.
To show that work has been carried out in real spaces, the studio says it shares photographs from construction sites, videos made on location and images that include the designers themselves. It has also chosen to leave some ordinary signs of use in photographs, such as post on a surface or a coat over a chair. These are the studio’s methods for documenting its work, not proof that every imperfect-looking image is genuine.
How Synthetic Rooms Change Client Expectations
For clients, the practical risk is mistaking a visual starting point for a buildable plan. An image can help communicate a mood or preference, but it may not identify real products, respect the dimensions of a specific home or account for construction rules. That gap can lead to disappointment when a designer explains that a favored detail cannot be replicated as shown.
For designers, the change affects both project conversations and how they demonstrate their work. Interior projects can take time and money to complete, while social platforms reward a steady stream of striking images, the report notes. Designers therefore face pressure to attract attention while making clear whether a picture shows a finished commission, a rendering or an AI-generated concept. Evidence of execution—including construction documentation—may carry more weight when polished still images are easy to generate.
The report does not establish how widespread AI portfolio misrepresentation is, or measure its effect on clients or businesses. Its account instead illustrates a concrete challenge: when images can depict plausible but impossible spaces, viewers may need more information than a final photograph alone provides.
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From Magazine Boards to AI Prompts
The designers describe a shift in the material clients use to explain what they want. Earlier clients brought torn magazine pages; later, many used Pinterest boards. Now some arrive with AI-created room images based on prompts and photographs. The change is not that AI is independently designing and building homes, the report says, but that generated visuals are entering the ordinary exchange between clients and designers.
The Smiths say their studio also posts AI imagery or visualizations at times, with captions identifying it as such. They acknowledge that a caption may not travel with an image as it is shared or saved. The report describes social platforms as asking users to label AI content, while noting that self-tagging is optional. It also says metadata can sometimes offer clues about an image’s origin, but that metadata can be removed; no detection method is presented as definitive.
““Can you make that?””
— Kelly and Graeme Smith, founders of SPELK., as quoted in Livingetc
What Images Cannot Confirm
The supplied report does not quantify how often clients encounter AI-generated interiors, how many studios use them, or whether misleading portfolio posts are common. It also does not establish that a particular image is AI-generated simply because it looks unusually flawless. The Smiths mention visual inconsistencies, metadata and behind-the-scenes material as possible clues, but none is described as a universal test.
It remains unclear how social platforms will handle optional AI labels or whether detection tools will reliably identify generated interiors as image-generation systems change. The report refers to a legal backdrop in the European Union but the supplied material ends before detailing the relevant law, so it does not support a specific account of legal requirements or their effect on designers.
How Studios Show Work Is Real
The report does not identify a formal industry standard or a scheduled policy change. For now, the designers’ response is to provide more process evidence: construction-stage photographs, on-site video and identifiable people, alongside clear captions for generated concepts. Such material can help clients distinguish a proposed look from a completed project, though the report does not claim that any single format settles the question.
Clients considering an AI room image can ask which elements correspond to real products, whether the proposed layout works in their home, and whether the image depicts a completed commission or a concept. Designers, meanwhile, may continue to face requests to translate attractive but impractical images into workable plans. The next developments to watch are how studios disclose generated imagery and how platforms and regulators address labeling; the supplied report provides no specific timetable for either.
Key Questions
Why might an AI-generated interior be impossible to recreate?
An image may show nonexistent furniture, doors with no clearance to open, drawers that cannot slide out or layouts that conflict with building regulations. A picture alone does not establish that its details can be built in a particular home.
Are clients deliberately presenting fake interiors to designers?
The designers quoted by Livingetc say many clients are not trying to mislead anyone. Some may save or share an AI-generated image without realizing how it was made.
How does the SPELK. studio show that its projects were built?
The Smiths say they share mid-construction photographs and on-site video, sometimes include themselves in images, and leave ordinary details in some finished-room photographs. These are their documentation practices, not a guaranteed test for every image.
Can metadata or image flaws reliably identify AI interiors?
Not according to the report. Metadata can be removed, and visual oddities may be clues, but the supplied material does not describe a definitive detection method.
What should a client ask about an inspiring room image?
Ask whether it shows a completed project or a concept, which products are actually available, and whether the layout can work in the specific home. Those questions help separate visual inspiration from a practical design proposal.
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