This is a progress report on my daughter’s bedroom makeover: how I used ChatGPT to plan it, where I overruled it, and the prompts I’d use if I started over. (Spoiler: a miter saw is involved.)
Shortly after we moved into this house, we had a toddler who viewed sleep as optional, and we were DESPERATE to do anything we could to improve it. You name it, we tried it. One suggestion I saw again and again was to make sure the room was really dark.
We ended up painting her room a dark blue that inadvertently made it look like a cave. It was a black hole, absorbing light and bouncing nothing back.
Fast forward two years, and not only did Quinn still have trouble falling asleep, she also didn’t want to be in her room more than absolutely necessary. Since having a cave-like room didn’t seem to help her sleep anyway, I decided it was time to make it more enjoyable for her.
First, she wanted pink
I asked her a few questions about what she wanted (pink), then started a Pinterest board with ideas. Once I found MY favorites, I showed her a few options and let her tell me what she liked most.
Naturally, she was drawn to the most difficult option: wallpaper.
I wasn’t super enthusiastic about learning how to put up wallpaper, but she loved the idea and I loved how it looked, and you know your girl loves a challenge.
The room details and wallpapers she liked had floral and nature themes, so I started searching Pinterest and Google for things like “floral wallpaper little girl” and “nature wallpaper room.”
And because I am who I am, and I’m not above trying to guide my child in the direction I want her to go, I also searched for “cute cat wallpaper little girl rooms.”
I found three options, showed them to her, and let her pick. She chose this one:
At this point, I wasn’t entirely sure how to move forward. I knew we wanted this wallpaper, but I also knew there was no way I wanted to do it floor to ceiling.
So I started a conversation with ChatGPT.
My messy first conversation with ChatGPT (and the prompt I’d use instead)
I told ChatGPT what I wanted, what Quinn wanted, and had a lot of back and forth about the style direction.
In hindsight, I probably would have started with something like this:
Act as an interior designer and help me design my four-year-old daughter’s bedroom. She has selected this wallpaper and wants her room painted pink. Our budget is [amount], and I want to do the work myself instead of hiring it out. Ask me questions one at a time to narrow down design choices and help me plan next steps.
That’s the prompt I’d use now. What I actually typed had far less context, and it took A LOT of back and forth to get anywhere.
We talked about whether I could realistically install chair rail and picture frame molding myself, how much it might cost, how high to put the chair rail, and how much wallpaper to order.
I also asked a lot of questions about paint colors. I picked Sherwin-Williams because it’s close to our house and asked ChatGPT to give me a few options to consider that would go well with the selected wallpaper. Quinn requested pink, but I very much did not want it to be a Pepto-Bismol room.
I narrowed down a few options before buying samples and ultimately chose Sherwin Williams 6322 Intimate White.
At first, I thought there wasn’t nearly enough pink in it. My mom assured me that any hint of pink has a tendency to really SHOW itself once you put it on all four walls, so I took a leap of faith and started the process.
And because I have trust issues, you better believe I did some checking of my own. I searched Google and Pinterest for chair rail heights, inspiration pictures, and rooms using the colors I was considering.
Once I had the rug, wallpaper, and paint color picked out, I copied images into an Instagram story that I never published so I could see how it would all look together.
An Instagram story can apparently serve a purpose without anyone else ever seeing it. Who knew.
The great chair rail debate
ChatGPT and I had quite the debate about the chair rail.
It gave me an initial suggestion of 32 inches, and I was like, “Nah, bro, I’m not doing that.”
My understanding was that having it about a third of the way up the wall was traditional, but this wallpaper is really busy. Leaving that much wall for wallpaper felt like a bad idea. The next suggestion felt like it was way too high.
Enter Google and Pinterest.
I looked at a bunch of inspiration pictures and tried to suss out what people are doing in 2026 versus what they started doing in 1750.
In the end, ChatGPT suggested laying it all out on the wall with painter’s tape so I could SEE it in the actual room.
Quinn and our son, Griffin, both thought this was amazingly fun. The tape went up at about 50 inches.
Ultimately, I made my decision entirely based on where the light switch was so I didn’t have to figure out how to cut the chair rail around it.
Hire me for all your design needs.
The tape settled what all that debating about inches couldn’t.
Apparently this was not a two-week project
This summer, Quinn went to stay with family members a couple of times. I had two separate weeks with her out of the house, during which I thought I could take a couple days off work and completely finish the room.
In ADHD-world, I believe this is what we call time blindness.
The first week she was gone, all I managed to finish was paint.
I took a day off work. My husband, Charles, watched Griffin for most of the weekend. I worked in the evenings after Griffin went to bed. And it STILL took me the whole time she was gone just to paint the room, never mind buy chair rail and a miter saw and figure out how to install it.
Covering up that dark paint was A JOB.
I used two coats of primer and three coats of Intimate White.
Five coats of paint later, we could move on to the rest of my supposedly quick project.
Then I bought a miter saw
Over the next few months, I had A LOT more back and forth with ChatGPT.
One thing led to another, and suddenly I was buying a used miter saw, a laser level, chair rail, and supplies for projects I hadn’t done before.
ChatGPT helped me figure out what supplies I needed, and I kept running my chair rail and wallpaper questions past it. We also kept working on the design: rug, bed, bedding, curtains.
For learning to operate the miter saw, I watched several YouTube videos, including videos from the manufacturer. Then I asked ChatGPT to clarify things I was still confused about.
It also helpfully reminded me that I needed to buy safety glasses.
The videos taught me how to use the saw. ChatGPT handled the “wait, but what does that actually mean?” follow-ups.
Research, ask, look at it in the actual room, decide, hit a new question. Repeat that loop enough times and you get a chair rail.
Where the room stands now
The room is not finished, but the paint, chair rail, and wallpaper are done. We’ve purchased the rug and bed, and the window shade is up.
I still need baskets to make her bookshelf look cute, picture frame molding, curtains, and to hang the pictures and art we already have for her room.
I’m also considering new bedding so we can preserve the heirloom quilt her great-great-grandmother made.
So, no finished-room reveal yet. A pretty substantial list still stands between me and the final pictures.
What actually helped
What helped most was treating it like a conversation instead of a search box. The more context I gave it, the better the answers got. It tossed out ideas I wouldn’t have thought of, and it caught things I’d missed, like safety glasses.
I took some suggestions and argued with others (see: the chair rail debate). A few questions needed paint samples or tape on the wall before I could answer them.
And, most importantly, it rescued my husband from endless conversations about design minutiae.
There are only so many conversations a marriage needs about chair rail height.
I still had to make the decisions and do the work. But I had somewhere to take every “wait, how do I…?” question, which kept me moving through a project full of things I’d never done before.
A few prompts I’d use next time
Here are the prompts I’d use if I started over.
To figure out the direction:
Act as my designer and help me figure out what style and general feel I want for this room. I’ll share photos, things I already own, and ideas I like. Ask me questions one at a time to help me narrow it down.
To narrow down shopping options:
Act as my personal shopper and give me three [item] options in the [budget] price range to consider, based on the room we’ve been discussing. Also give me search terms I can use to look for options myself.
To help make decisions when you feel stuck:
I’m stuck deciding between [options]. How could I test them in a small, inexpensive way before committing?
To get moving when the project feels overwhelming:
Here’s what I still need to do in this room: [list]. Give me three logical next steps that I can complete in under 30 minutes each.
To check your blind spots:
Here’s my project plan and timeline: [details]. What work am I overlooking, and which time estimates seem optimistic? Ask about anything you need to know before answering.
That last one may be particularly useful for those of us who think we can finish an entire bedroom in two weeks. 👀
Have you used ChatGPT (or another AI) for a home project? Tell me what worked and what flopped.
