Turn Claude into your interior designer ⚡

The idea in one line

Claude is the designer, Nano Banana is the paintbrush. Claude can't draw images itself, and that's fine, that's not where its value is. Claude looks at your room, diagnoses it, writes the exact redesign prompt, and later gives you the shopping list. Then a free image model called Nano Banana (inside the free Gemini app) renders the picture. You get a real designer's brain plus a free renderer, and the reel title is literally true.

Part 1: The setup (no API key, ~3 minutes)

1. 📸 Photograph the room in good light. Open the curtains, turn on the lamps, stand in the doorway and take one clear, wide shot at eye level. A good photo is the whole game.
2. 🧠 Make Claude your interior designer. Open Claude, upload the photo, and use the master prompt in Part 2. Claude reads the space (layout, light, proportions) and writes you a precise redesign prompt tailored to your actual room.
3. 🍌 Render it free with Nano Banana. Open the Gemini app (free with any Google login, web or phone), upload the same room photo, and paste Claude's prompt. Nano Banana draws the redesign. No API key, no install.
4. 💬 Iterate in plain English. Right there in Gemini, keep going: "keep the layout, swap to warm oak, add plants, morning light." For a crisp 4K version or readable labels, switch on Nano Banana Pro (about 2 free renders a day).
5. 🛒 Bring it back to Claude for the shopping plan. Paste the render (or describe it) back into Claude and ask for named products, a budget, and what to keep versus replace. That's the part Claude is genuinely best at.

Part 2: The master prompt

Every redesign starts with this base formula. Give Claude your room photo and this prompt so it tailors the wording to your space, then paste what Claude writes into the Gemini app to render it. (In a hurry? You can paste this straight into the Gemini app with your photo too.) Customise the bits in [brackets].

Redesign this [room type] in the style of [style name].

Keep the room's existing windows, doors, and ceiling height, only change [furniture / paint / textiles / decor].

Make the lighting [warm and cosy / bright and airy / moody and intimate].

The vibe I'm going for: [one sentence about how you want to feel in the room].

Show me the redesigned room from the same angle as the original photo.

Why this works: the best results come from a clear anchor (the existing room), a clear change scope (what's allowed to change), and a clear feeling (not just a style name).

Part 3: The 12-style library

Just swap [style name] in the master prompt with any of these. Each one has the exact words I'd use to describe it, that level of specificity is what gets you redesigns that don't look generic.

🌿 Cosy & warm

1. Modern Japandi: neutral palette, light woods, soft linen, low-profile furniture, minimal but warm
2. Cosy Farmhouse: cream walls, woven textures, vintage finds, dried flowers, terracotta accents
3. Warm Minimalism: beige + ivory + soft brown, one statement piece, lots of negative space
4. Coastal Grandmother: slipcovered linen sofa, blue-and-white ceramics, woven baskets, soft natural light

🌱 Bold & editorial

1. Dark Academia: deep green or burgundy walls, brass fixtures, leather, books as decor, moody lighting
2. Modern Industrial: exposed materials look, matte black metal, concrete textures, leather sofa, Edison-style bulbs
3. Maximalist Eclectic: layered patterns, jewel tones, gallery wall, mixed-era furniture, plants everywhere
4. Mid-Century Modern: walnut wood, mustard + teal accents, tapered legs, geometric rug

🌸 Calm & feminine

1. Soft French Apartment: cream walls, antique mirror, ruffled linen, fresh florals, pale wood floors
2. Quiet Luxury: tonal palette (one colour family), high-quality textures, no logos, restrained styling
3. Garden Room: botanical wallpaper or murals, rattan, ferns and fiddle-leaf figs, vintage botanical prints
4. Korean Minimalist: pale oak, off-white walls, single ceramic vase, soft cotton bedding, low bed frame

Part 4: The Budget-Friendly Refresh ✨

Use this when: you don't want to replace your furniture. You just want the room to feel different. This one is a job for Claude, because it does the reasoning: the priority order and the real costs. Paste it into Claude with your room photo, then take the look it describes into the Gemini app to render.

Redesign this room with a strict rule: keep all existing furniture exactly where it is, bed, sofa, desk, shelving, anything large.

I'm only allowed to change:
- Wall colour (one accent wall is fine)
- Bedding / cushions / throws / curtains
- Rugs
- Lamps and lampshades
- Wall art and small decor (vases, books, plants)

The total budget is $300. Tell me the 5 highest-impact changes I should make first, in priority order, and roughly what each one would cost from IKEA, Kmart, Target, or Amazon.

Style I'm going for: [pick one from the style library, e.g. "Warm Minimalism"]

Then write me a single image prompt I can paste into the Gemini app (Nano Banana) to see the finished look, from the same angle as my photo.

Why this is the best prompt in the guide: Claude doesn't just describe a pretty room, it tells you what to actually buy and in what order, then hands you the exact prompt to render it. Most people skip the priority ordering. That's where the value is.

Part 5: The Rental-Friendly Redesign 🔑

Use this when: you rent. You can't paint, drill, or damage anything. Bond on the line. Run this in Claude too, since the value is the reversibility plan, then render the look in the Gemini app.

Redesign this rental room with strict landlord-friendly rules:
- NO painting walls (peel-and-stick wallpaper, removable wall decals, or large fabric tapestries are okay)
- NO drilling holes (use Command strips, leaning art, free-standing pieces only)
- NO permanent fixtures (no hardwired lighting, no built-in shelves)
- NO damage to floors (must use rugs over existing carpet/floor)

Style I'm going for: [pick one from the style library, e.g. "Cosy Farmhouse"]

Total budget: $400.

Give me:
1. A shopping list with 8-10 specific items, ranked by impact-per-dollar
2. The exact removal method for each (so I get my bond back)
3. Two cheaper substitutes for the most expensive item on the list
4. A single image prompt I can paste into the Gemini app to see the finished room, same angle as my photo

Make sure everything is reversible at move-out.

Why this works: most rental design content is generic ("just add plants!"). This gives you a reversibility plan, which is the actual hard part of decorating a rental.

Part 6: Power-user prompts (the next level)

Once you've got a redesign you like, layer these in (mostly as follow-ups in the Gemini app, since it holds the image in context).

A. The lighting test

Now show me this same redesigned room in three lighting conditions: morning sunlight, golden hour, and night-time with lamps on. Tell me which lighting suits this style best and why.

B. The colour palette extraction

Pull out the exact colour palette from this redesign as 6 hex codes. Group them as: walls / large furniture / textiles / accent / metal finish / plants. I want to actually buy paint and fabric to match.

C. The "make it more me" prompt

Here are 5 things I love: [e.g. matcha lattes, secondhand books, my cat, slow mornings, dried flowers].
Here are 3 things I hate: [e.g. cold lighting, glossy surfaces, anything plastic].
Redesign the room again with these in mind. The room should feel like it belongs to a person, not a showroom.

D. The seasonal swap

Show me this same room in summer mode (lighter textiles, fewer layers, brighter accents) vs winter mode (more layers, warmer tones, heavier textures). I want to be able to swap between them seasonally.

E. The designer lens

Redesign this room as if [Marie Kondo / a Scandinavian grandmother / a 1970s film director / your favourite designer] designed it. Tell me 3 specific choices they'd make differently from a generic version of this style.

Part 7: Pro tips that most people skip

1. Take the photo in good light. Open all the curtains, turn on every lamp. The tool can only redesign what it can see clearly. Bad photo, vague redesign.
2. Stand in the doorway, phone at eye level. Wide, full-room shots beat tight crops. It needs to see the room's geometry.
3. Clear the clutter first. Move laundry and mess out of frame, or it designs around them.
4. Always ask for the same camera angle. Add "show me from the same angle as my original photo" or you can't compare before and after.
5. Iterate, don't restart. Take one redesign you like and say "now make the sofa green instead of beige." You'll get to "perfect" much faster than generating fresh rooms.
6. Ask for the why. End a prompt with "explain in 3 bullets why this works for this room's natural light and proportions." You learn design principles instead of just collecting pictures.
7. Save favourites with a name. Keep a note titled "Living room v3, warm minimal" with the prompt plus image. You'll thank yourself in 6 months.

Part 8: Troubleshooting

"My redesigns look fake or cartoony."
Add: "Photorealistic, natural lighting, real-world textures, magazine editorial quality. No CGI look."

"It moved my window or door and now I'm confused."
Add: "The walls, windows, and doors must stay in exactly the same position as the original photo."

"It keeps giving me the same beige minimalist room."
You're being too vague. Pick one specific style from Part 3 and use the exact descriptive words listed for it.

"I want to redesign just one corner, not the whole room."
Use: "Redesign only the [reading nook / bed area / desk corner] in the bottom-left of this photo. Keep everything else identical."

"The look is great but the furniture is out of my budget."
Take it to Claude: "Only suggest furniture I can actually buy from IKEA, Target, Kmart, Amazon, or Facebook Marketplace. No designer-only brands."

Power-user path: keep it all inside Claude

If you'd rather not switch between Claude and Gemini, you can still do everything in one place with the Banana skill. This is the old setup, now optional: in Claude, switch to Code, install the Banana skill (search "banana skill claude" and paste the repo link, then type "install this skill"), and add a free Google AI Studio API key. Then you upload your room photo to /banana and run every prompt above right inside Claude. It's more technical, but it keeps rendering and reasoning in one window. Most people are happier with the free Gemini app route.

You did it. 🍌

You now have a real designer's brain and a free renderer, and the prompts to use them well. Plan the whole room before you spend a dollar.