It is always fun to do a DIY project. Even if you’re super lazy, there is something powerful about just taking a chance and doing something yourself and feeling the satisfaction of accomplishing something. However, as probably everyone knows, many DIY projects are ill-conceived, leaving the people who attempted them wishing that they just went with a professional or got something off the shelf, or just went with something more conventional. Let’s take a look at 40 DIY disasters.
Getting to Know Your Butt’s Mood
We kind of forgot that mood rings are even a thing. Those tacky rings that change color in a way that purportedly tells you your mood are still around, and someone decided that getting to know the mood of their own rear end was a good idea. We beg to differ on that, and so does this person named Emily who posted this mood ring toilet seat on Twitter.
For starters, it is ugly. We want to be able to see a clean, sparkling toilet seat, not one with a bunch of colors that we wouldn’t want to sit on, especially when they are on a toilet seat. Also, as Emily points out, though we have to share our toilets with other bums, we don’t want to have to be reminded of in such a visible way, and we don’t want to know if those bums are angry.
Covering up the Scene of the Crime
If you can’t afford to repair your car, you have two choices: leave it alone or try to cover it up. Like using makeup to cover a bruise, you can make some efforts to cosmetically clean up the damage on your car. This person thought of a way to not really cover up the damage, but certainly, distract from it and make it look like maybe it was intentional, or something.
It is kind of cute to put in a plant in the damaged part of the car, and it is creative, but is it a good idea? Hopefully, this isn’t meant as a long-term solution and is just a way to hold them over until they get to take their car in for repair. We think a professional should handle this one.
An Excessively Flimsy Barrier
Most people just use rocks to separate their lawn and garden, or just a good old-fashioned fence. Not exactly the fanciest of inventions, and you can do it at a pretty low cost. Some people feel the need to be different though, or they just have moments of extremely poor judgment, and that’s what leads to DIY projects such as this one where they created a barrier of paper plates.
It has a sort of quirky visual appeal, but it isn’t the most practical. This person wrote how it is all good until it rains, and then you’ll have a soggy mess of torn paper in your yard. Even if it doesn’t rain, how about sprinklers or any other water that gets in there. Maybe this is a fun decoration for a holiday, but we can’t imagine it lasting more than a few days. Better to buy a fence.
The World’s Laziest Christmas Tree
This got a good chuckle out of us. A wooden ladder being dressed up in Christmas lights gets turned into a so-called Christmas tree. Okay, purists may scoff, but it actually sort of works. Maybe it is an artistic statement, intended to tell people what Christmas trees will be like after a climate apocalypse.
However we may wish to rationalize it, though, we imagine the kids are not exactly thrilled with having to get their presents from under this Christmas tree. It is a Christmas tree almost guaranteed to not have presents, or to have the worst presents ever, like an electric toothbrush or something. And just imagine the kids go to a friend’s house and see a real Christmas tree and come back home and say “Daddy, why can’t we have a real Christmas tree?” This is child cruelty.
What Could Possibly Be the Purpose of This?
The caption of this really captures our feelings perfectly. “What in the trailer trash hell am I looking at?” Well obviously it is a microwave meant to be a mailbox, but the more we think about it, we don’t know what we are looking at, and the follow-up caption raises even more questions. “Why the **** is it plugged in?”
The best thought we can come up with is that it is intended to disinfect mail that comes in. Is this a good idea though? Paper is safe to microwave, but still, what if there is metal or plastic in anything? This really seems like a total disaster, and if we saw one of these mailboxes in front of someone’s house we’d be pretty freaked out. Definitely seems like something out of a horror movie.
When Recycling Goes Too Far
Look, we all want to save the planet. Reduce, reuse, recycle is a good mantra, but is it possible to go too far? Sometimes it is okay to actually just throw things away rather than turning the waste into something new. This photograph shows one such situation where the recycling was really just unnecessary and honestly kind of embarrassing.
We have all had those cheeses wrapped in wax and just gleefully tossed out the wax wrappings without a care in the world. This person felt some deep psychological need to reuse the Baby Bel cheese wrappers by making them into candles. Sure, why not, candles are a good use of wax. But really, it’s okay to throw away your cheese wax. Mother Nature will not cry any tears if you do that.
Are You Coming or Going?
We can imagine someone seeing this truck and screaming, thinking it’s about to ram into them. For some bizarre reason, the owners of this truck decided to play a prank on everybody by tricking them into thinking the back is the front. We love a good prank, but it’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt, and honestly this seems like it could get people hurt.
Imagine if the car behind them suddenly swerves when they see a truck driver facing them. This is really a disaster waiting to happen. And as the caption notes, it is highly unlikely that this is even legal. We’re sure that the police stopped them at one point, and this backward truck probably had to retire soon after.
A Walking Stick Meets A Scooter
Everyone has their preferred methods of getting around, and there are many variations. Some people like to walk, and some walkers like to walk with walking sticks. Some people use scooters or skateboards for their transportation. Here someone decided to combine the walking stick and the scooter/skateboard into a wooden four-wheeled but very narrow ride.
It’s funny and shows some ingenuity, but when we look at this we can’t help but feel there is a bad accident waiting to happen here. Maybe a kid can ride it in his backyard where a fall won’t be too tragic, but nobody should take this thing out onto a street or sidewalk. It looks like it will be difficult to get a good balance on, and falling off seems like a guarantee.
Good In The Short Term, Dumb In The Long Term
Small doors that your pets can go in and out of can be a lifesaver for pet owners who no longer need to let their animals out themselves every time the animals need to take a leak. Most pets get those “doggy doors” with a plastic flap they can walk right through, but this guy got creative by putting a small door with a knob at the bottom corner of his door.
This let’s him open and close the door as he pleases, but he can leave it open for his cat, giving him the flexibility he wants. Good idea, but there’s a hitch. He’s a renter, and some day down the line he is going to have to pay up for destroying his door, either by repairing it or buying a new door. Ultimately, this was a good idea in the short run but bad in the long run.
An A-Door-Able Fence
A door made out of fences is definitely something we have never seen before. It’s a funny way of recycling, and we’re sure that everyone who sees it gets a good laugh. Still, do you want people to laugh at your fence? This looks like something that would work at a quirky bar, but otherwise it really just comes across as excessively silly.
Any design decision should take functionality and aesthetics in mind. On the functionality front, it mostly works, but do you really want people to be able to see through the windows? On an aesthetic front it also works, and it certainly gets people’s attention, but homeowners should ask themselves if all attention is good attention. Even if you like the look, consider trying a fence that is aesthetically appealing without being so distracting.
When SpongeBob Fandom Goes Too Far
Many fans of their favorite properties go too far. No, you don’t need a Star Wars themed wedding, and an Avengers themed birthday party stops being acceptable by the time you’re 12. However, fans of the show “SpongeBob SquarePants’ tend to be a restrained bunch. It’s a show that has brought happiness to many, and yet its fans don’t go overboard with tacky, silly displays of their love for it.
This is an exception, though. SpongeBob’s best friend Patrick the starfish has been made into a decal sticker to go on the wheels of a car. Maybe this is the kind of thing that is fun as a gag as some friends go on a beach vacation or something, but other than that, no way. It would be hard to take anyone seriously if we saw this on their car.
A RAM Jam Session
Are you a fan of the band Rammstein and want something that subtly ties into their name? Or how about Paul McCartney’s classic album RAM? Or maybe you just want to show to the world that you are a giant nerd? How about making a guitar pick out of actual RAM?
It is an impressive piece of work, but let’s be honest, it’s totally lame. Maybe it would have been cool for a futuristic-sounding bad from like the 70s. Now it maybe has some sort of retro-futuristic hipster appeal, but is this RAM really something you would want to jam with? We think not. Plus, don’t most people play guitar because they think it is cool? Why cancel it out with this?
A Riverboat Dining Experience
Offbeat dining experiences are always fun. You can dine in treehouses, dine in revolving restaurants on top of skyscrapers, and even dine in the sky on a platform suspended in the air hundreds of feet up. Our favorite offbeat dining experience is a quiet, romantic dinner on an exotic riverboat cruise, and we think these people tried to recreate that with this table, made out of a log with a little river in it.
As far as gimmicky tables go, we like this one, but it’s badly thought out. It is way too easy for things to fall into the water. Why not put glass over the stream, not only making it much less likely that an accident will happen but also doubling the amount of space on the table while still letting you see the water? Also, why not put this outside? This all seems like a no-brainer.
The Pictures In The Corner
If someone tells you to hang some pictures in the corner, you would think that they meant to place those pictures right next to the intersection of one wall and another. Perhaps someone got that order and took it literally, though. Here we have pictures that are actually in the corner, with the frames built so that they form a right angle and fit perfectly into the corner of the wall.
Like many things on this list, it is a great gag, but it feels like something that is fun to show as a prank but not actually practical. Like, what is the point of this in terms of how we look at the photos? We don’t get a better perspective on them, nor do we get to see them totally clearly. It would be cool for a picture or artwork to be designed to be displayed like this, though.
No Bowl, No Problem
We have all had times in our lives where we have lived a very simple, minimal lifestyle, such as having just a few sets of plates and silverware. Still, sometimes this minimalism goes too far, as you can see here. This person decided that rather than scooping their ice cream into a bowl, they would cut the container in half and use that as a bowl in itself.
This is a bad idea on many levels. The container is extremely cold, and a bowl acts as a barrier between the frozen dessert and your hands while the container doesn’t. Also, it means you basically have to eat half a tub of ice cream, or you will create more inconvenience for yourself just putting it away than you would if you had gotten a bowl out. The perplexing thing about this is they could have easily just taken the lid off.
When Your Remote Gets A Makeover
Remote controls can be pretty confusing. There are so many buttons on them, and they just seem to get more difficult to use as the years go on. One way to make them even worse is to “bedazzle” them as this person’s nine-year-old daughter did. She probably thought she was just prettying things up, but now the remote is going to give a headache to whoever tries to use it.
One, the buttons you want will be harder to find with all of these visual distractions. Also, you may not press the button that you want. As confusing as remotes have become, avid TV watchers often develop a bit of muscle memory for the buttons they need to press, but this just throws it all off. At least a kid did this, making it better than the terrible ideas by adults on this list who should’ve known better.
Who Would Want A Creepy Baby Night Light?
Babies are unique because they have the power to be both the cutest things ever and the creepiest things ever. We are hardwired to fall in love with babies, with our parental instincts overriding everything else. Why is it, then, that babies can also be incredibly creepy? Some babies just have this evil look in their eyes, and they can be the source of some serious horror movie moments.
This person had the crazy idea of making a night light out of a baby toy, and as the caption notes, they immediately regretted doing this. Maybe they envisioned it being cute, but as soon as the light turned on it became apparent that this looks like a baby possessed by demons. This is not the kind of thing you want to look at in the middle of the night.
Fits Like A Glove
When you get a car or house, you really need to know for sure that your car will fit into the garage. When the car doesn’t fit, that’s when you find desperate solutions like this. The garage couldn’t close without hitting the back of the truck, so it looks like instead of the garage closing down from the top, they instead cut out part of the garage door so it fits perfectly with the truck, and maybe the bottom part of the garage detaches so the car can pull out.
There are many issues here, and the biggest question we have is about the gaping hole that the garage will have whenever they go out. We assume they have a plan for that, with something that they put up to fill the hole, but that’s too much work to do and isn’t such a foolproof solution to keep people out.
Ride The Chandelier Mobile
There is no end to ridiculous car ideas, from Batmobiles to boatmobiles, but have you ever seen a chandelier mobile? This is certainly a new one for us, but unlike those other cars which promise some interesting features beyond just their absurdity, this is purely trafficking in the absurd. We imagine it can’t be legal to have a pair of chandeliers on the front of your car, and if it isn’t illegal it probably should be.
Sure, you need good lights on your car, but this looks like it will obstruct the vision of the driver. Also, how sturdy are these things? Are chandeliers built to survive sharp turns at high speeds? We wouldn’t like to find out that answer by testing it on our own car, that’s for sure. Also, in an accident these seem like they could really hurt someone. Clearly someone watched too much “Pimp My Ride.”
Plunging With Some Extra Pogo Power
Sometimes an ordinary plunger just won’t do it. Your toilet is clogged too much and too deep, and you have to break out some heavier artillery to get the job done. Some people use snake plungers that can crawl down into the pipes, some people use various chemicals to dissolve whatever is built up down there. This person, though, has a pogo stick plunger.
This really just seems like a disaster in the making. It probably won’t even get that much better of a plunge than a normal plunger, and it seems like it will be really difficult to balance on this. We imagine anyone who tries this will fall, and we also imagine there will be a lot of splashing. You should ask yourself if you really want to have a clogged toilet splash around your bathroom.
Roller Cowboy Boots
Roller skating is something that most people can pick up, but it’s challenging and it is likely that anybody learning will have many times when they fall. Roller skates are designed to make it as easy for you as possible, and still it is hard to balance. Imagine, then, how difficult it will be to roller skate with a DIY setup where wheels are put onto these snake skin cowboy boots?
There’s no way anybody who tries this doesn’t consistently wipe out. How could anyone think this is a good idea? Well, the caption kind of answers that. It’s Texas. ‘Nuff said. We wonder if Texas has a higher rate of roller derby accidents than other states have.
You Can’t Lose This Remote
Losing remotes can be such a pain, especially with newer TVs where you can’t even operate them without the remote. Sometimes they slip through cracks in the couch, get lost under stacks of papers, get put in another room, or any other array of mishaps that would cause you to lose your remote.
We appreciate that these people came up with a solution so that they don’t lose it, but is this really the best way to do it? Why put it on such a large piece of wood that needs to stay standing up? How about a plank of wood that is big enough so you don’t lose it but small enough that you can keep it on the table. How do you even point this thing at your TV?
Wanta Fanta Hat?
This is another example of recycling, a respectable practice, taken to a totally unnecessary extreme. You may “Wanta Fanta,” but nobody in their right minds would want a hat made of Fanta can. Even a hat with the logo of a soda is kind of weird unless you happen to be a big fan of that particular soda, but even under those circumstances, wearing the cans just sounds awful.
We don’t see how this could possibly be comfortable. Baseball caps are meant to block the sun while being comfortable on your head. There’s no way this material wouldn’t just feel clunky, heavy, and pokey on you. If we were going to wear this, we would expect Fanta to write us a nice fat paycheck for advertising their wares. For a bonus we’ll sing the song, too.
Did You Know You Could Do Something You Would Never Want To Do?
This Twitter post has a funny framing to it. “Did you know, that you can” it begins, as if it is going to enlighten us on something valuable to us that we likely did not know. Well, the second part of that is correct, we did not know that we could do this, but it is not something any sane person would want to do.
Some people may look at this and say “why have a diamond-encrusted lighter when you could have a tooth encrusted lighter?” We would just say “how about an ordinary light?” And we would be right. Some things can just serve their utilitarian purpose without extra efforts made to make them more beautiful, or in this case grotesque.
What Else Can You Fit On There?
Here’s a paperweight that from a design standpoint is a travesty. Looks, it’s just a rock with stuff glued on it. The rock would have sufficed as a paperweight on its own, it doesn’t need anything else, and if you do insist on putting stuff on it then it should be visually pleasing. This is not the case, and it looks like they just took glue and whatever objects they could find. Shells, rocks, a paperclip, and… is that a tooth?
There is an answer to all of this, though, and that is that the creator of it was just four years old. Suddenly it all makes sense. This child will hopefully improve one day and make sculptures and other art that are more aesthetically refined, or maybe just make nothing at all, that’s fine too.
Why Eat A Melon When You Can Turn It Into A Video Game Controller?
Look, melons were meant to be eaten. They grow on vines and when they are ripe they are sweet, juicy, and delicious, and on top of that they are good for you. Do not turn your melon into a toy. Just eat it and enjoy it the way nature intended. Some people, though, just need to assert their creativity onto the world. We may look at this person’s watermelon video game controller and say “why?”, but this guy looks at it and says “why not?”
We aren’t actually sure what this person did here. What kind of controller is it with all of these buttons? It is confusing, but we are pretty impressed by this guy, who is clearly intelligent and should probably be using his talents for something more meaningful to the world. With that said, has he thought this through? Watermelon has an attribute that plastic doesn’t: decay.
I Dream Of Jean Stairs
Other examples on this list of recycling gone too far have showcased people who needlessly recycled things that didn’t need to exist in the first place. This case is a little different, because it does serve a need, and that is putting “carpet” on the stairs. With that said, is this really the best way to go about it?
First off, traditional carpet might even be cheaper than using jeans, unless this person has spent their entire life saving up jeans to be recycled like this. Second off, it looks much worse than carpet, it seems like it will be harder to clean than carpet, and it also seems like it could be dangerous, with its inconsistent texture due to the stitching and tears. But really, we just feel kinda queasy looking at it.
A Barbie Cemetery
What happens to Barbie dolls after they die? They go into this person’s shoes apparently. We aren’t sensitive about Barbies, you can decapitate them all you want, even if that probably makes you a freak. However, becoming a walking graveyard for Barbie dolls is one of the strangest things we have ever heard of.
Why would someone do this? Wouldn’t they just be completely embarrassed? Our first thought was that any little girl who saw this would be frightened beyond belief, but honestly, this should frighten anyone and everyone. We aren’t sure if textbooks about serial killer behavior patterns include “putting Barbie heads into their shoes,” but we won’t be surprised if that makes it into future editions. Whoever did this, please just throw it away and try to move on with your life.
Coaster From The Toaster
Bread is a staple in various cultures all around the world, and many people eat bread on a daily basis, sometimes for all three of their meals and even snacks. The smell of fresh bread being baked can put a smile on just about anyone’s face, and sometimes the smell of bread being toasted is even better.
Okay, we get it, bread is awesome, but do we need it everywhere? Some soft, fluffy white bread does not need to be used as a pillow, and some hard, crusty piece of toast does not need to be used as a coaster, and yet this person felt the need to put a slice of bread into cement and make it into a coaster. The best reason we can think of is someone loving bread for breakfast but having to give it up for dietary purposes and this is their way of coping.
Getting Stoned In The Bathroom
Using stones as part of the fixtures is an interesting and effective way to incorporate natural elements into your interior design, and one place where it can especially look great is in bathroom walls and sinks, giving the room a relaxing, peaceful vibe. Having stone on the toilet is just absurd, though.
The biggest requirement of a toilet besides, you know, flushing down our waste, is that it is clean and comfortable to sit on. This fails on both metrics. Nobody ever wants to sit on rocks, especially not when they are emptying out the previous night’s dinner. On top of that, this looks far more difficult to clean than an ordinary toilet. If we checked into a hotel that had this in the bathroom, we’d check out immediately.
Not The Way To Solve Cable Clutter
This is another DIY project to file under “good problem to solve, terrible solution.” Yes, cables can be a total nuisance, especially in this case where they are way too long for the amount of space required. And yes, it is a good idea to create a little hook you can hold the extra cable length onto. But no, it is not a good idea at all to attach that hook to the plug as it enters into the outlet.
This seriously looks like a surefire way to get electrocuted. It is such an epically bad idea, far worse than the alternative of just letting the cables fall. While a portable hook may not be so easy to construct, you really do not want to risk anything when it comes to electricity. Don’t try this at home, at work, or at all.
Locked Inside, But At Least The Sun Is Blocked
When you desperately want to stop the bright sun from shining into your room, what do you do if you don’t have blinds? Tinfoil on the windows always works, though it looks pretty trashy to anyone who sees it. Here somebody got the bright idea of putting the curtain rod on the door. The sun is blocked, job well done, right?
Well, sure, if you never want to leave your house. It actually took us a second to realize what was wrong with this photo, and then it hit us that the door can’t open because of the rod. Oops. Well, maybe this is a good idea if you’re planning to never leave and don’t want anyone looking in. At least this is a mistake they probably won’t make twice.
Next Time, Just Buy One
Some things are fun to make yourself, and the downsides of having them not be totally professional aren’t that big of a deal. Take a shot at making your own picture frame, there isn’t much to lose with screwing up something like that. However, when it comes to anything that has a medical purpose, you really do not want to take any chances.
This person’s mom made a cane for her husband, and we hope the man never used it. It looks like he would just hurt himself with it. A good quality medical grade cane is not even that expensive, they can be had for less than $50 and they should last a long time, so there is really no excuse here. This is not something to be DIY’d, even if you’re really cheap.
The Curtain Rod Is There For A Reason
There is a fancy new technology called curtain rods. You hang it on the wall, and it allows you to hang your curtains down. Groundbreaking, but perhaps too revolutionary for some who find the future frightening. They remain stuck in the past, in a world without curtain rods, where the only way to hang curtains was to nail them to the wall.
Alas, curtain rods are not actually so new and revolutionary. And yet, this tenant still felt the need to nail their curtains to the wall despite the rods that were hanging just inches above. Did they not see the rods? Were they not tall enough to reach? We have so many questions as to why they felt the urge to do this, putting a hole in the curtains and the wall. Sadly, some questions must remain a mystery.
Nothing A Little Tape Can’t Fix
For some people, tape is the solution to everything. Has your side mirror gotten hit and is now hanging on for dear life? Tape. Have your windows been broken into leaving you exposed to the outside world? Tape. Have you cut open a limb but can’t get an appointment with the surgeon? Tape.
How about severe structural damage to a column in a building? Tape, tape, and more tape. This looks like it needs to have serious repairs, but somebody thought they could fix it with something they bought at the supermarket. Sorry, but that is not how this works. And as the caption notes, they couldn’t even be bothered with duct tape. Please get a professional in there before the building collapses.
Who Needs Windows When You Have Paint?
It is great to get some natural light into your room. It keeps you from feeling trapped by your four walls, and it will help everything from your energy levels to your mood. What do you do if you live in a room that does not get any sunlight, though? Well, you could get creative to pretend as though the light is coming in anyway.
That’s what this person did, painting the walls so that it looked like light streaming in through the windows. It’s definitely creative, and it’s also surprisingly convincing. Make no mistake, though, this is one of the saddest things in the world. This would be a good idea for someone trapped in solitary confinement for a month. Other than that, though, it’s just embarrassing.
Barefoot With Shoes On
If you hate wearing shoes but also hate the social ostracism that comes with going barefoot, we have the solution for you. Some may attempt to wage war on the barefoot with their “no shoes, no service” rules, but this person has fought back brilliantly, with a shoe that acts as a trojan horse for a barefoot.
It is a sly bit of deception that also provides a bit of protection to the feet, though not from anything that is actually on the ground. It’s funny, but is it actually a good idea? Well, for someone who has some mental hangup about wearing shoes, then this is a good workaround that still lets them navigate our shoe-centric world. For everyone else, though, this is flat-out stupid.
Glitter in The Cracks
What is it about lines on the floor that is so captivating to our imaginations? There are countless games we play revolving around these barriers, whether it is not stepping on the cracks or games such as hopscotch that have us use individual squares as though the ground were truly divided into segments. We find patterns and meaning in the ground, and it is thanks to those lines.
Maybe this person wanted to pay tribute to the ever so intriguing lines on the floor by filling in the grout with some glitter. Maybe this is Kesha’s house, or maybe it is just the work of a 7-year-old girl on a sugar high. It’s very ugly, but we like to think it is done in the spirit of some sort of anarchist comedy.
The World’s Worst Shoes
We used to think that any shoes were better than no shoes, but new photographic evidence has come out to suggest otherwise. Here we see someone wearing what looks like plastic wrap on their feet, covering them fully and with seemingly limited room to even wiggle their toes. Why this is, we don’t know, but we do know it is a horrible idea.
What do shoes accomplish? Well, they protect us from anything that could hurt our feet, and they also give us support, which not only helps our feet but also helps things like our back, neck, and general posture. Shoes are also designed for comfort, providing varying degrees of coziness and ventilation. You could also say they serve a stylistic purpose. This plastic rack accomplishes none of these traits.
Why Wear Crocs When You Could Wear Steel Toed Crocs?
When Crocs first came out they were universally ridiculed for their duck beak appearance, yet somehow they only got more popular. Considering it is hard to imagine anyone wearing them unironically, it is a marvel that their stock price has gone up by over 1000% in five years. The comfortable but ugly shoes seem all set to take over society, and we have to expect custom Crocs are going to become a thing just as they have with other shoes.
This guy decided to make his own custom steel-toed Crocs, and while he actually did a good job on them, the aftermath of it wasn’t so good. We could see why a workplace wouldn’t want steel-toed shoes or even Crocs in general there. For wearing his steel-toed Crocs, he actually got fired. In one sense, he’s a victim, but it is hard to really blame his boss on this one.