Following on from yesterday's post I am going to give one more demonstration from a different room in my childhood home before drawing some conclusions. I think between the two posts there is enough material to give a sense of what I am trying to demonstrate, which ties in very neatly with the title of the two pieces.

This time we are going to concentrate on the lounge / living room. Part of me thought I would do the kitchen, but they tend to be so specific and individualistic that whatever ambiance I create it will never even come close to one's expectations.

So without further ado...

In a similar frame to what I did yesterday I am starting with the photograph from the estate agency that was taken when the house went up for sale. At the time made the following comment to describe how it was then compared to how it is now.

Going through the door that you saw on the previous picture, we enter the living room whose main feature is the bay window. Other than the basic shape of the room this room has completely changed. There was a gas fireplace where there is now none and it was a soft, carpeted room / a snug with a TV in the corner between the fireplace and bay window and a sofa and chairs around it. I have no idea why there is a dining table and chairs here and even more why they have been shoved all the way into the corner like that.

Taken from the original blog post that you can find here.

As you can see in the picture above and when compared to my description, and unlike yesterday when I did my best to faithfully recreate my childhood bedroom, I have aimed more for the ambience. The best element, in terms of the recreation of the original room is the carpet, which I must admit is just about perfect. The gas fire isn't too far off, but the surround is completely wrong and the TV is not right, but I just asked it to find a 1987 one. I did ask the prompt to put a large cupboard behind the TV in the alcove, but it failed. However, it did put one in the other alcove (to the right) which I hadn't asked for, but was kind of right. The cupboard is far from perfect and it should have been obscured by an armchair - which I hadn't asked for. At first look, I thought the sofa was totally off and it should have been a bit further from the wall. 

I could spend a long time tweaking it and making it better and more authentic, but what I have actually done successfully is captured the ambiance of what a 1980s living room looked like. 

In the picture above I simply asked the prompt to give it an uplift and a 2026 feel that meant making the most of the light and the space and getting rid of the fitted carpet. Personally I still like the lush luxury of a fitted carpet, but I also readily accept that it is very much something from the last century. I am slightly disappointed that - while not specifically prompted one way or the other - that it retained the original sofa that it put in, in the first place. Having said that, it doesn't look out of place.

This image was a bit of a mystery in terms of results. Using the updated living room from the previous image as a template I asked it to create a living room for three female students in a house share. I actually quite like the room, but (and while I don't know from any real experience) nothing screams student about it apart from the rather tacky neon slogan on the wall. What it has done is accented the room with some very obvious feminine touches (flowers, candles, etc) which tend to be absent from spaces occupied by men alone.

Again using the updated living room as a template and having done a female version, I asked the AI to reimagine the room as a room share for three male students. Fair is fair after all. Other than that I asked for the room to have a darker ambiance. My prompt was very limited and once again nothing about it screams student. At the risk of being prejudicial, it is far too tidy to be a manpad and the idea of a daily planner being on the wall in the living room is just frankly bizarre. Such things tend to live, at the very least, in the kitchen and usually on the fridge. The whole thing is just a bit too sophisticated.

In my last recreation I asked for it to be a family living room; with the family comprising of mum and dad as well as a one-year old baby. I did ask, as well as some of the paraphernalia that comes as part of the package with a baby for there to be a certain untidiness about the place. The reality is that when babies arrive, tidiness is almost impossible to maintain. The table and chairs need a bit of replacing and it probably needs to be made a bit more child-safe, but the overall ambiance isn't far off. I do however give the potted plant zero chance of survival based on personal experience.

So, in conclusion, and having experimented with two rooms from my childhood home, my impression is that AI is a very useful tool when it comes to creating an overall impression, and toy around with layout options. It is much easier than actually physically moving the furniture around. I have been very generic, but you you wish to be specific you can take photographs (or browse the internet) in search) of specific items, such as sofas and other furniture that you like. A similar approach can be used for accenting eg take a picture of a specific flowerpot and flower and place it in a specific place eg on a a shelf.

The only issue is when it comes to copyrighted material (remember the heavy metal bedroom) you may struggle to get authenticity and sometimes the AI tries too hard and you end up with an exaggerated version of what you ask for. 

Similarly, sometimes the AI fundamentally misunderstands what you are asking for. When I asked for the 1980s living room to be updated to have a 2026 ambiance the first attempt failed because it thought I was asking for erotic content. I think this might be to do with the vocab used in the prompt and it might have been because I asked for a rug and an exposed panel floor.

Finally, it comes down to the old adage that has been around since at least the 1980s, that being GIGO - Garbage In Garbage Out. At this level AI is far from able to think for itself and therefore it relies almost entirely on the quality of the prompts it receives.

So, to reiterate and summarise my conclusion, my overall impressions are very positive as a guide. 

As always, stay safe and well my friends.