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Interior designers say clients increasingly bring AI-generated room images that show furniture, layouts or construction details that cannot be reproduced in real homes. The report describes a growing challenge for designers to distinguish concepts from completed projects and demonstrate real-world work; it does not quantify how widespread the problem is.
Interior designers interviewed by Livingetc say clients are bringing AI-generated room images to consultations, sometimes expecting designers to recreate furniture or layouts that do not exist or cannot work in a real home. The report describes a practical challenge for studios: explain the limits of the images while showing that a polished visual is not proof a project has been built.
The designers describe a change in the material clients use to communicate ideas: from magazine clippings to Pinterest boards and now to AI-made images generated from a photograph and a prompt. Some clients, they say, do not realize that images they have saved may depict invented objects or impossible spatial arrangements. Designers then have to explain why an appealing image cannot be translated directly into a room.
The examples in the report include a sofa that cannot be bought, doors that cannot open, drawers without room to slide out and layouts that would not meet building regulations. These are the designers’ observations, not an independent technical audit of AI interior images. The report does not name specific image generators or provide figures measuring how often these problems arise.
Kelly and Graeme Smith, co-founders of the design studio SPELK., say their work involves more than producing an attractive image. They point to scheduling, procurement, budgeting and construction coordination as parts of interior design that a visual alone cannot show. The studio says it labels AI images and visualizations, but warns that people scrolling quickly may miss captions and assume a concept depicts a finished room.
Why Buildability Matters to Clients
The gap between an image and a buildable design can shape client budgets, timelines and expectations. A person who falls in love with a fictional sofa or impossible layout may need to revise the plan, find a different product or reconsider what can be done in their home. Designers say explaining those limits has become a new part of client work.
The issue also affects how prospective clients assess a studio. A portfolio image can communicate taste, but on its own it may not establish that a project was completed, that the pictured furnishings are available or that the design was feasible under actual site conditions. For readers choosing a designer, the report points to a practical distinction: ask whether an image is a concept, a rendering or a photograph of finished work, and how the studio handles construction and sourcing.
There is a wider trust question, too. The designers do not describe all AI use as deliberate deception. They say social media rewards frequent, striking posts while real projects can take a long time to complete and photograph. That pressure may encourage some people, particularly newcomers with few completed commissions, to use generated imagery. The report offers no evidence about the scale of such use across the industry.
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From Mood Boards to Generated Rooms
The Livingetc report places AI images within a longer shift in how clients present design ideas. Designers once saw physical mood boards made from magazine pages; clients later brought digital collections from Pinterest. The newer images can look like complete rooms rather than collections of references, which may make it less obvious that they are visual proposals rather than records of real work.
The designers say they respond by showing more evidence of the process and the people involved. SPELK. says it photographs projects during construction, records video on site and includes its team in images. The studio has also chosen to leave some ordinary details in photographs, such as post, a coat or dust, rather than make every surface look perfectly staged. These are the studio’s methods, not a universal verification standard.
The report says image metadata may sometimes offer clues about how an image was made, but can be removed. It also says social platforms are beginning to use detection systems and ask users to self-label AI content, while labeling remains optional. It mentions a legal backdrop in the European Union, but the supplied report excerpt ends before explaining the relevant law or its requirements.
““Design for real rooms and real lives, not for trends or quick impact.””
— Kelly and Graeme Smith, co-founders of SPELK., as described by Livingetc
Limits of Image Verification
The report does not establish how common AI-generated interior images are in client mood boards, professional portfolios or social media, nor does it provide survey data or examples verified by an independent investigator. Its account is based on the experiences of the designers featured.
It also does not identify the European Union legal rules it references or explain which images, creators or platforms may be covered. The status and accuracy of platform detection systems are not detailed, and optional self-labeling does not establish whether a particular unlabeled image is AI-generated. A visual flaw or unusually polished room may prompt questions, but the report does not present those traits as conclusive proof.
Questions Designers May Need to Answer
The report gives no announced policy change, regulatory deadline or next industry milestone. For now, the designers’ described response is to make project evidence more visible: label concepts, document construction and share photographs or video that show the work in progress. Whether those practices become more common is not established.
For clients, the next step is to ask a studio what an image represents and whether its furniture and layout can be sourced and built in the intended space. For designers and platforms, the unresolved task is how to communicate image provenance clearly enough that concepts are not mistaken for completed work. The effectiveness of labeling, detection tools and any applicable legal rules remains unclear from the source report.
Key Questions
What problem are interior designers reporting?
Designers interviewed by Livingetc say clients sometimes bring AI-generated room images that include furnishings or layouts that cannot be reproduced in a real home. They report spending time clarifying what is feasible and what is only a visual concept.
Does every AI interior image show an impossible design?
No. The report gives examples of impossible or nonexistent details, but it does not claim that all AI images are unbuildable or assess images systematically. Each design would need to be checked against actual products, measurements and building requirements.
How does SPELK. show that its projects are real?
The studio says it shares construction-stage photographs, on-site video and images including its team. It also says it leaves some everyday details in finished-room photographs. These are the studio’s own practices, not a formal verification system.
Can metadata or platform labels prove an image is AI-generated?
The report says metadata can sometimes provide clues but can be removed. It also describes platform detection tools and optional self-labeling, without specifying their accuracy. The supplied material does not establish that any one signal proves an image’s origin.
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