There is something quite gratifying about sitting down and working with your hands. For many it’s a hobby, but in other cases, one just has to hang a frame on a wall. How hard can it be?
So in case you’ve been suddenly inspired by some home project or home repair ideas, we’ve gathered examples of some of the funniest DIY fails from across the internet. Get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and if you have seen your own projects crashing down, feel free to share your story in the comments down below.
#1 Probably Much Alcohol Was Involved
Image source: yavinmoon
#2 World’s Worse Birdhouse
Image source: hmbmelly
#3 I Thought I Could Polish The Scratches Out Of My Polycarbonate Eyeglasses
Image source: kid_entropy
Here is the thing about a DIY fail. The funny part rarely begins with the fail itself. It begins with the confidence. Nobody lifts a drill while thinking that the next hour will end with a curtain rod, two curtains and a chunk of plaster on the floor. They think it will take ten minutes. Then the shelf leans, the paint drips, the door swings open straight into the toilet, and everyone watching enjoys the gap between the plan and the result.
Researchers who study humor have a tidy name for that gap. Under the benign violation theory, something becomes funny when it breaks the way we expect the world to work while staying harmless at the same time.
#4 Walnut Cooking Spoon. Nailed It!
Image source: zorlack
#5 Christmas Snowman
Image source: brnslee
#6 DIY Cup Holder Fail
Image source: DarrensMother
One study in Psychological Science found that small mishaps are funniest when they feel psychologically close to us, which helps explain why a photo of a stranger’s collapsed bookcase feels so personal. We have all wandered a hardware store aisle with big dreams and a modest budget, so the mishap feels like it happened next door.
#7 10 Cans Of Spray Paint Later And There Is No Making That Tree Top White. If You See This Craft On Pinterest Do Not Attempt
Image source: Cyberrebel9
#8 DIY Hot Glue Phone Case
Image source: JustANutMeg
#9 This Mailbox I Found Near My Grandparents’ House, The Guy Is An Appliance Repairman
Image source: bastiwp97
The harmless part matters a great deal. A tipped paint can is comedy. A trip to the hospital is not. Once a mishap looks genuinely harmful, concern takes over from amusement. That is why the fails on any good list involve crooked tiles and mystery stains rather than anything painful. Watching from a phone on the sofa adds distance too, which keeps everything safely on the benign side.
#10 “Don’t Worry Babe, I’ll Just Repair The Broken Joist And Relay The Floor” – Me At 9am This Morning
Image source: throwthrowthrow529
#11 My Wall Of Despair — DIY Strategy Or Tradie In A Year?
This wall had a boiler on it before, now relocated. The large holes allowed for pipe work from all over the house.
There is a VERY tough concrete patch in the middle (behind the picture) that I have tried and failed to break off back to brick.
The rest of my kitchen has been finished 50:50 DIY and some tradespeople.
I’m not sure now if I can DIY this — any ideas on strategy here?
I’m at 80% call a pro but I can’t afford one now so it’ll be staring at this, unable to complete my decorating; or tackle DIY somehow. How?!
Thanks for any thoughts!
Image source: ompamiizgraa
#12 A Lady Posted This On A ‘DIY Doodle Grooming’ Fb Page And Said They Think They Messed Up And I Cannot Stop Laughing
Image source: thegreatesk
Then there is schadenfreude, the German word for the little flicker of delight we feel at someone else’s bad luck. Psychology Today explains that it grows out of social comparison, which is our habit of measuring ourselves against other people, so a neighbor’s crooked fence can leave us feeling oddly fine about our own wobbly garden gate.
#13 Many Questions For This One
Image source: Mlazerz
#14 Previous Owners Didnt Even Put The Door Down When Painting The Garage
Image source: born_zynner
#15 DIY Humidifier
Image source: cobbers83
Leiden University social psychologist Wilco van Dijk found that deservingness, envy and self enhancement are the main concerns behind the feeling. Deservingness gets a workout in DIY land, because somebody did announce that no professional was needed. Mild misfortune with no lasting damage is about as gentle as this feeling gets, and a leaning bookcase fits that description perfectly.
#16 We’ll Use Liquid Nails To Put This Mantle On The Wall For Our TV, And It Should Be Perfect
Image source: EndersGame_Reviewer
#17 Wise Up Suckers
Image source: SpecialMeasures
#18 Another Great Fail From The Foreclosure My Friend Bought
Image source: jewishjihad
Part of the appeal is hubris. Tutorials squeeze a whole weekend into a three minute clip, the finished result looks effortless, and “how hard can it be” becomes the unofficial motto of the average Saturday. Reality then arrives holding a level. The fails that travel furthest online tend to share one feature, which is a person who was completely certain a moment earlier. That clash between certainty and outcome is the same mismatch the humor researchers describe, only with more caulk. The comment section then fills with confessions about a different wall and a similar mistake.
#19 An Elsa Cake
Image source: cyber_loafer
#20 Just Fit
Image source: Ok_Knee1216
#21 Lifehack: Beat The Summer Heat By Turning Your Old Cowboy Boots Into DIY Sandals!
Image source: CaptCardboard
The numbers suggest that most of us are laughing at ourselves. Angi’s Home Oops Report found that 78 percent of surveyed homeowners had experienced a home oops moment, and the average DIY mistake cost $1,171 to fix. More than half of those mistakes needed a professional to finish the job.
#22 But… Why?
Image source: petrichorx
#23 This Is How My Wife Decided To Fix The Leaky Tap
Image source: calpol55
#24 Man Laptops Are Getting Hot
Image source: xReaperOmega
There is also a soft spot at the center of every DIY disaster, and it has a name. Researchers at Harvard, Yale and Duke dubbed it the IKEA effect after finding that test subjects would pay 63 percent more for furniture they had assembled themselves than for identical units that arrived already built. We love what we make, even when it leans a little to the left. That pride is a big part of why these fails feel affectionate instead of cruel. The builder almost always steps back, tilts their head and declares that the slant gives the room character.
#25 This Absolute Monstrosity
Image source: nahog99
#26 Going Home For Thanksgiving Never Ceases To Amaze Me At What My Father Can Come Up With
Image source: Metalgreek
#27 Load Bearing Screwdriver
Image source: LightSky
#28 Someone Didn’t Read The Slide’s Instructions. It Drops The Kid On His Head
Image source: langer_cdn
#29 Found In The Foreclosure My Friend Bought
Image source: jewishjihad
#30 Tried To Make A Hiding Place In A Book !
Image source: Beautiful_peony
So laugh freely at the lopsided shelves and the doors that open the wrong way. The humor works because nobody is badly hurt, everybody has been there, and somewhere in a garage a half finished project is already waiting to star in the next list.
#31 I Decided To Make An Enclosure For My Raspberry Pi
Image source: spaxcow
#32 When Pulling A 4 Inch Screw Goes Wrong… This Is On The Ceiling
Image source: SDMusic
#33 This Belongs Here. [x-Post /R/Pics]
Image source: itsrattlesnake
#34 My Friends Tried Recreating A Peppa Pig Cake For Their Daughter’s Birthday
Image source: ThePeoplesBard
#35 Why Not Cement Rocks On Your Toilet
Image source: DeepFriedGuineaPig
#36 These Picture Frames Fit In The Corner
Image source: patholio
#37 Blursed Bathroom
Image source: CaledonianErrant
#38 Nailed It
Image source: nomau
#39 “DIY Movie Theater, Mom”
Image source: bishopthom
#40 DIY Spring Loaded Door
Image source: tnick771
#41 I Accidentally Broke A Mirror. Thankfully I’m A Dab Hand At DIY So Nobody Will Ever Notice
Image source: Meth_Hardy
#42 DIY Vanta Black
Image source: CactusCait
#43 This Makes Me Irrationally Angry
Image source: Alternative_Owl5866
#44 This Phone Holder Drilled Straight Into The Dashboard Of An Audi Tt
Image source: Dottore_Curlew
#45 Fence Reinforcement… My Engineering Degree Hard At Work
Image source: quarkymatter
#46 This Door Handle Is The Wrong Way Round And Scrapes The Door Frame
Image source: GrapeJelly_
#47 Keep On Truckin’
Image source: HidroProtagonist
#48 Turn 2 1/4 Times To Flush (X-Post R/Wtf)
Image source: Drabalais85
#49 This Guy Showed Up To My Buddies Work To Buy Oxygen Tanks And Said “Just Put Them On The Bed Of The Truck”
Image source: jpina33
#50 How My Father-In-Law Fixed His Eves Trough
Image source: chadtak13
#51 Spotted This Beauty Today At A House We’re Flipping
Image source: Hello-Universe
#52 What Does Redoit Think Of This New Headlight?
Image source: nitengale329
#53 I Present To You, My Shower Head
Image source: ThatSlappyChap
#54 Wasn’t Sure Whether To Post This On R/DIY Or Here
Image source: katrina228
#55 Always Important To Think Of Safety When Doing DIY
Image source: meatbag2010
#56 These Driveways In Georgia
Image source: GreenEyeDutchman
#57 I Know A Guy Who Can Do It Cheaper
Image source: SafeDirection9454
#58 My Wife Didn’t Want Anyone To Trip Over The Old Well Pipe. She Decided She Wanted A Miniature Tardis As A Cover. This Was 2 Years Ago. This Pic Was Yesterday
Image source: jchabotte
#59 Pinterest’s It Pumpkin vs. My Sisters
Image source: m0mmysp1ce
#60 My Boyfriend Trying To Escape Bed Bugs In Texas
Image source: QuarantineChronicles
#61 My Ps/2 To USB To Ps/2 / USB To Ps/2 To USB Connector (Likely Doesn’t Work Either Way)
Image source: double-happiness
#62 Wheel Cover
Image source: harmanesh
#63 Headlamp DIY
Image source: Jed118
#64 DIY Fail
Image source: imgur.com
#65 Don’t Worry, I Fixed It
Image source: imgur.com
#66 Painting Around Outlets Is Hard! DIY Lifehack: Remove Faceplate Before Painting!
Image source: WhereintheOK
#67 When My Wife Makes Me Bake
Image source: ineedm0ney
#68 No Stove? No Problem!
Image source: synthead
#69 Someone Made Some Stairs
Image source: IAmSnort
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