What Should an AI Soft-Furnishing Prompt Include?

A room can look related to the original while losing the furniture you meant to save. “Keep my dining set” leaves the reviewer with a vague instruction. “Keep the rectangular wooden table and the chair with the ladder back beside the window” gives you an identifiable object to look for. Describe the feature you can see rather than guessing a brand or wood species.

Then state position and finish separately. If you want only a textile comparison, hold the arrangement and upholstery still. If you permit the table to move, give that permission directly and leave other furniture fixed. Do not ask for new chair upholstery in one sentence and unchanged chair finishes in the next.

The dining example shows why the distinction matters: it preserves a recognizable room but changes the dining set. More precise wording would make the mismatch easier to identify. We have not tested whether it would make the generated result more faithful.

Choose the decision you are actually ready to make. For this dining-room exercise, compare a plain runner and seat pads while leaving the table, chairs, shelves, walls, and light fitting alone. If a rug is the unresolved purchase, ask for a rug trial instead. Changing the whole room would make it harder to judge that single choice.

The original case request combined retained furniture with less storage clutter, a centered dining area, and a new pendant. Those are several interventions. A soft-furnishing request can leave the storage question pending and exclude lighting work. Removing a task is often more useful than adding another prohibition.

Use “only” with a named list: “Change the runner and seat pads only.” Then read every remaining sentence against that list. If you ask for closed storage as well, either remove that request or acknowledge that you are planning a broader project.

Words such as calm, warm, and relaxed describe preferences. They do not say which objects may change. For a quieter table, you might ask for one plain textile and fewer displayed accessories. For more color, you might permit a rust runner beside the existing wood. Pick a direction you want to compare; neither is a documented preference of the household in this case.

An instruction like “make it warm and cohesive” could leave you judging an attractive replacement dining set instead of a useful accessory trial. Tie the mood sentence back to the allowed change: “Use a plain runner to reduce pattern on the tabletop.” Stop there if that is the decision.

A fabric can look soft without having the touch, care requirements, or composition you need. Use physical samples for those judgments and check the exact product instructions. A rendered weave does not identify linen, durability, or stain resistance.

This is an illustrative request for the photographed dining room. It was not submitted to generate the proposal shown above. Replace the permitted textile choices with the ones you actually want before using it.

“Keep the rectangular table, mixed chairs, their positions, walls, floor, window and viewpoint. Change only a plain table runner and simple seat pads. No new furniture, cabinets, paint or pendant. Aim for a quieter tabletop with one plain textile; keep the existing wood visible.”

The limit is deliberate. This request does not try to solve storage, seating capacity, and lighting at once. The runner must still suit meals and cleaning; the seat pads must fit the retained chairs. Record those practical requirements beside the prompt rather than treating a pleasing picture as product approval.

In the current RoomRearrange flow, sign in and open /workspace. Start a new room with your original photograph, then use the “What should stay or change?” field for the compact instructions. Keep your longer worksheet beside you and check that the photo shows the pieces named in the note.

Underline every verb that authorizes work: move, replace, cover, hang, paint, add. Compare each with your keep and avoid lines. “Keep the shelves unchanged” conflicts with “replace the shelving with closed storage.” Choose which instruction reflects the real scope before asking for an image.

Keep unknown dimensions out of confident instructions. A photograph does not give a reliable rug order size, occupied chair route, or attachment specification. Measure the candidate footprint and moving parts in the room. Confirm textiles with physical samples and supplier details; obtain landlord permission where required. Have a qualified installer or electrician assess proposed fixing or electrical work instead of approving it through a prompt.

Keep a copy of the instructions with the original photo. When the result arrives, first locate the table and each retained chair. If they have changed, that proposal has missed this request even if the textiles appeal to you. Set it aside as a different furniture concept before making a shopping decision.