How to redesign your room with AI in 3 minutes (RivAI walkthrough)

What does a 3-minute AI redesign look like?

RivAI turns one photo of your room into a photorealistic redesign. The whole loop fits in about three minutes: one minute to shoot, one minute to set up, roughly 30 seconds to render, and the rest to compare and make one edit. This is the short version. For the full reference, read our step-by-step guide to redesigning a room with AI.

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Minute 0 to 1: how do you take the right photo?

The photo sets the ceiling for the result, so spend your first minute here. The AI reads walls, floor, windows and furniture straight from the image, and a clean input makes a convincing output.

• Daylight: open the curtains and turn off mixed warm and cool lamps. Avoid shooting straight into a bright window.
• Landscape orientation: horizontal framing shows more of the room.
• Level and at chest height: hold the phone upright at roughly 4 ft (1.2 m) so vertical lines stay vertical.
• Whole wall or corner: step back far enough to capture a full wall or a corner with two walls, not a close-up of one chair.

Our room photography guide goes deeper on lighting and framing if your first render looks off.

Minute 1 to 2: which settings should you choose?

1. Open RivAI, tap Interior Design and upload your photo or take a new one.
2. Pick the room type, such as Living Room, Bedroom or Kitchen, so the AI furnishes it correctly.
3. Choose one of 43 styles. If you are unsure, start with Modern, Scandinavian or Japanese, which read clearly in a first render.
4. Select Keep Structure to preserve your layout and furniture placement, or Full Renovation to let the AI rethink the room.
5. Optionally pick a color palette to steer the colors, then choose Standard quality and tap generate.

Keep Structure is the right default when you are keeping your sofa, bed or cabinets, because it changes finishes and decor without moving things around. Full Renovation is for empty rooms, total makeovers or pure inspiration. Not sure which style you are? The 60-second style quiz narrows it down.

What happens during the 30-second render?

A Standard render takes about 30 seconds. High Quality, available with Pro, takes up to about 2 minutes. Use Standard to test directions quickly and save High Quality for the version you plan to show a partner, contractor or client.

Minute 2 to 3: how do you compare and refine the result?

Drag the before/after slider across the render to see exactly what changed. Then make one targeted edit rather than re-rolling the whole image. Pick the tool that fixes the biggest problem:

Paint is usually the best first edit, because a real hex code from a paint brand turns a nice picture into something you can actually buy. Try a warm white such as #F3EFE6 or a sage green such as #9CAF88 in the color picker. When the result looks right, save it to your camera roll or share it straight from the app.

Can RivAI clear a room instead of restyling it?

Yes. The Empty Space tool removes all the furniture from a photo, which is useful for seeing the bare room or starting a fresh redesign from a blank room. It is not virtual staging; it does the opposite. See the virtual staging page for what the app can and can't do there.

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What if you do not know where to start?

Open the Inspire gallery of preset ideas and start from a look you like, so you skip the guesswork. The app is available in six languages: English, German, Spanish, French, Italian and Russian. You can also read more about the AI interior design tool on our site.

How much does it cost?

RivAI is free to try. Pro is $9.99 a week or $39.99 a year (US prices at time of writing), and the annual plan starts with a 3-day free trial. Pro removes the free-design limit, unlocks High Quality and removes the watermark; subscribers don't spend credits.