I’ve been trying to redesign my living room and I don’t know where to start. There are so many AI interior design apps out there, and I’m feeling overwhelmed by all the options. Can someone share their experience with the best app for creating virtual room layouts or design mockups? I’d appreciate any advice or suggestions.
Honestly, picking an ‘AI’ interior design app feels kinda like shopping for cereal at the grocery store—sooooo many flashy brands but most taste the same. I tried a bunch cause I literally had a vision for my living room and zero skills to make it happen. So, let’s do a rundown of the ones I wasted my time on and the single one I actually liked.
- Havenly: Not really ‘AI’ but they do have designers. More like, you answer a quiz and a human helps. Expensive + kind of slow unless you pay extra.
- RoomGPT: Free versions are trash, premium gives you like, three slightly different versions of the same room. Also, it makes weird furniture combos sometimes like red leather sofas with purple carpets. You’ve been warned.
- Homestyler: Probably the most “fun” if you wanna play around. The AI auto-place feature is dumb—like it thinks a lamp should float in the middle of the floor. But for actual DIYing with real brands and 3D, it’s solid. Needs patience. And a computer that doesn’t suck.
- Decorator AI: This is that app everyone on TikTok is hyping. I used it to redesign my living room, and it spit out some wild ideas (neon pink walls??). But if you refresh enough, you’ll get styles that actually fit your vibe. The AR try-on is especially cool. Pricing isn’t the worst but they tease you with ‘free’ previews and then lock the good stuff.
- IKEA Place: Actually AR, less AI, but if all your furniture is IKEA (realistic for most of us), it’s actually helpful.
- Fotor: Some claim it’s good for interior rendering but honestly, it’s more of a photo editing app dressed up in AI clothes.
TL;DR: If you want actual help, try Decorator AI for fun inspo and Homestyler if you want to go deep. Avoid anything that charges you upfront and promises magic. The AI is not gonna design your perfect living room without some trial, error, and a healthy sense of humor about virtual decor fails—unless you actually want floating lamps and tiger print ottomans, then it’s all you.
Decorator AI and Homestyler, as @hoshikuzu said, are definitely up there for easy inspo and “deep dives,” but honestly, is it just me or does everyone secretly want their living room to look like a catalog and these apps just shove random “vibes” at you until you either give up or decide neon pink walls are an actual possibility? Anyway, slightly disagree about the IKEA Place app being only for full-on IKEA homes—I used it to try out non-IKEA color palettes by just plopping generic IKEA shapes in my room so I could at least SEE the spatial stuff play out before ordering anything IRL. It’s kinda clunky and not really “AI,” but if you’re a visual organizer, it beats guessing couch size.
Also, I’ve messed with a couple apps not mentioned like Planner 5D and Magicplan. They’re pushing more “pro” vibes (not cute AR filters, just old-fashioned floorplan stuff), so they’re best when you’re actually willing to measure and drag stuff around for a couple hours. Don’t recommend if you want something quick/casual, but for nerds who love over-planning, it’s satisfying in a weird way.
Honestly though, none of these AI apps really GET you unless you’re just collecting wacky moodboards, so don’t let the “AI” hype stress you out. Use them for quick vision boarding, but if you want an actual plan, combine like 2-3 apps and prepare to do a lot of screenshotting and cursing at your phone/computer. PS—avoid anything that asks for $$$ upfront or “unlocks pro AI features,” unless you really want more options for floating lamps or candy-cane chairs. Apparently, that’s where the technology shines.
When it comes to AI interior design apps, I keep coming back to the fact that none of them actually do everything well. You’re either playing around with pretty renders or laying out furniture on what looks like a complex IKEA instruction manual. Despite what’s been said about Homestyler and Decorator AI (which, don’t get me wrong, have their moments for quick inspiration and for seeing how wild your living room could look), I kinda think they’re missing the point if you want something that coolly blends “wow, I never would’ve thought of that” with “oh good, this actually fits in my real-world apartment.”
Here’s one twist: try Morpholio Board. It’s not exactly as AI-driven as TikTok’s favorite Decorator AI or as drag-and-drop fun as Homestyler, but what makes Morpholio Board stand out is its focus on moodboarding with real products and finishes. The pro is that you get to see what your new couch, lamp, paint color, and rug will actually look like together, and it pulls from huge libraries of brands. The con? The learning curve is steep, and if you just want fast “show-me-now” AI snapshots, Morpholio feels manual.
Plus, a slight disagreement: lots of people trash AR apps like IKEA Place for being pure IKEA tools, but I found value in them as a visualizer for scale and placement—seriously, just being able to walk around a “virtual” couch is a game-changer, even if it is generic and clunky.
If you want to avoid floating lamps, my advice: use Decorator AI for its surprise (and laughable fails), but set aside time for Morpholio Board if you want to feel like an actual designer. It works best on tablet, costs a bit more, and isn’t for those chasing instant hits, but the tactile feel is awesome. Homestyler and Planner 5D (as others mentioned) are decent if you’re detail-obsessed or want to really craft your space, but even then, expect to mix up apps—there’s no one-stop magic here yet.
All told, AI interior design still means you have to make most creative calls—the tech will suggest, but taste and reality checks are still up to you. So don’t burn cash on “unlock AI premium” until you’ve ridden the free carousel and seen just how weird your future living room might get.