DIY Disasters: 45 Projects That Went Hilariously Wrong

In an effort to save money and perhaps show off their creativity and craftsmanship, a lot of people have taken the DIY route. We’re not just talking about tackling simple projects; some have decided to DIY literal parts of their homes!

While a lot of people have succeeded and managed to showcase their works on social media, others have failed badly, but that didn’t stop them from posting their failures online. Some of the projects you’ll see here may have been deemed a success by the people who made them. However, we can’t help but scratch our heads because many defy explanation, safety, and common sense.

This list will prove that if you’re not good enough with crafts, you should probably stay away from DIY stuff and look for an artsy person’s help! Here are some of the funniest DIY fails we’ve seen online.

Hopefully, these shoes don’t bite

This is the kind of shoe we don’t ever want to see nearby our feet at all. We wouldn’t want to have any kind of accident. What if, one day, it simply decides to bite us? We don’t know if the design was intentional or accidental.

We can only say one thing: this pair of shoes scares us so much! To be honest, this is the kind of DIY craft that makes us seriously wonder what goes in some people’s minds. Why would anyone create this shoe design? And where did they find so many teeth?!

This doesn’t look too comfortable

Whoever created this must have been a huge fan of the HBO series Game of Thrones. They likely thought they would do a good job of recreating the iconic throne – but with gamers in mind. However, we wouldn’t want to sit on that chair because it doesn’t look too comfortable.

Imagine working or gaming for hours on end on that chair. We don’t think we’d be able to stand up, much less walk, after that. While the Iron Throne looks impressive, this particular Keyboard Throne doesn’t. Just looking at it makes our butts scream in agony!

This is too creepy

After the fiasco of the Iron Throne-inspired gaming chair, let’s take a look at another DIY creepy chair fail. Although some people pointed out that this chair holds a lot of sentimental value because it is made from a late loved one’s clothes, it doesn’t make it less creepy at all.

We’d rather not imagine ourselves sitting on the lap of someone we don’t know, regardless of how kind they were or how lovingly they served their people. If you have a chair like this, please keep it hidden in a room full of sentimental mementos.

Is this a transformer?

We would love to ask what’s going on in the mind of whoever made this ugly mutation of a vehicle. It looks like they couldn’t decide whether they wanted a motorcycle or a truck, and it’s confusing the heck out of people who happen to glance at this vehicle’s way.

This is a reminder that you should never change something that is already working, even if you’re given the chance to innovate and create something new. You should always think about how your design will look in the end. If it doesn’t look like something people would buy, just abandon the project.

A sure way to get injured

If you have nothing better to do and wish to experience some type of injury to find out who would come to your aid, you might want to give these stairs a go. Walking up or down these stairs is a surefire way to end up in the hospital.

This person clearly had no experience with building stairs. For starters, they built an incredibly steep stair. To make matters worse, each step is so tiny that they don’t even fit an adult’s foot! You may manage to go up these stairs, but we’re sure that you won’t make it down safely.

Testing the strength of glass

If you love getting your nails done and want the entire world to know it, then maybe this DIY idea is perfect for you. This project is also further proof of the many questionable choices that some people make when they’re feeling creative.

Look, this shoe is creative, and we can’t deny that. However, anyone who wears it has to be careful, and they need to be light on their feet because there is a very big possibility that they could end up injuring themselves in case the polish bottle shatters.

You’re not going to see us swinging on this

Having a swing in the backyard is an amazing idea. You get to sit on the swing with a cup of coffee or tea and just enjoy the nature around you. However, we are pretty sure that you wouldn’t want to sit on this particular swing.

We hate to imagine ourselves being thrown from the swing or falling from the swing and breaking our bones. Children and people go on swings to have a good time and have fun, not to suffer from serious injuries caused by a not-so-sturdy DIY swing!

You could stab someone with those nails

Here is another DIY project that concerns feet and footwear. Going to the nail salon can cost a lot of money, especially if your nail technician is a top-rated one and charges accordingly to her popularity. Well, if they do superb work, we say it’s money well spent.

However, if you’d rather keep the money for yourself and do your own nail work, we urge you to at least learn the basics and not end up like this lady. Her nail art is superb, but we’re not joking when we say you could stab people with those.

No one’s stealing that laptop

According to the FBI, two million laptops are stolen each year in the United States and what’s even worse is that only 2% of these stolen laptops are recovered. You have to be careful with your electronics wherever you are in the world.

Thieves are everywhere, but if you have got a laptop that looks like the DIY one in the photo, we say that you need not worry about it being stolen. No one’s going to be foolish enough to risk jail time for that thing.

We’re never sitting on that

This is another DIY endeavor that looks unique and artsy, but it’s still a chair that you wouldn’t want to sit on. Some people who saw this creation thought that perhaps it would make a good massage chair, but we seriously doubt it.

Before putting your effort into DIY projects, perhaps it would be a good idea to think of the end product and analyze if it would be beneficial or not. A good chair doesn’t only need to look good; it must also be comfortable for people to sit on.

Another DIY project no one asked for

In 2019, almost 15% of homeowners in the United States were into DIY and home improvement projects. Over 50% of those people said that they had completed at least one home improvement project on their own. These numbers tell you just how popular DIY is.

However, not all DIY projects are successful, as you may have already noticed. One such case of a DIY project that nobody asked for is this mirror. From afar, it looks perfectly fine, but when you take a closer look, it’s a little creepy.

Want a moldy toast on your lighting?

Our mood is heavily influenced by light, whether it’s artificial or natural. That’s why it is crucial to choose the correct kind of lighting for your home. The ‘correct’ lighting depends on the room. For example, your bedroom requires a relaxing light that can send you off to dreamland quickly.

Yellow is classified as warm light and is thought to be relaxing. Perhaps those are some of the reasons why this homeowner thought it would be a good idea to try this DIY project. No one could have guessed that it would end up making his light look like a piece of moldy toast.

At least it’s a designer bag, right?

Designer bags are very expensive because the brands use only the highest quality materials to craft their products, or so they say. These days it’s not unusual to see pricey designer bags being made with flimsy materials and not having excellent craftsmanship.

People tend to navigate towards designer items, and that may be the reason why this flea market find was easily spotted by the original poster. However, we would love to ask why they turned a Louis Vuitton bag into a hammer bag!

A glue gun is not the answer to everything

There was a time when glue guns were all the craze. People thought that they could fix anything and everything as long as they had a glue gun in hand. Got some broken bowls? Get a glue gun. Want to do arts and crafts? Get a glue gun.

Thinking of making a unique photo frame that people will talk about for hours after they have seen it? There’s only one solution for that: to get a glue gun! Obviously, the frames weren’t such a hit, as they are still stocked in the local shop.

Putting things to good use

This person must have wanted to commemorate the time they tested positive for Covid. Surely, such a momentous occasion deserves a keepsake, right? In a move we can’t quite comprehend, the poster thought it would be a good idea to convert their Covid test into a USB stick.

As much as we’d like to commend this person for their creativity, we can’t help but think that the best use for the Covid test is to be thrown away in the dump along with other things that must never be kept. Is this even safe?

Now we know why the lights never turn on

Lots of people enjoy watching TV shows focused on flipping houses. The builders who tried this technique were probably being recorded for TV and had to complete the house in a few weeks. This was the only way they found to ensure all the wires and plumbing had been finished.

Electricity is no joke; you must have basic knowledge about wiring to ensure that you don’t set your house on fire or accidentally electrocute someone. Basic knowledge is also required to ensure that your bulbs light up when they are supposed to.

We are not going to this dentist’s office

Whoever thought that this “tree” would make the dentist’s office more appealing during the holidays deserves to be sacked from their job. It is not only creepy on all levels, but it’s also unhygienic. We don’t even care if those were not used!

Look, we get that they had good intentions when creating this DIY Christmas tree. But we are pretty sure that a toothbrush tree would be less creepy. We can only wonder what the gynecologist’s clinic next door is using for decoration.

We think this is pretty cool

We don’t understand why this car was categorized as a DIY fail because, for us, it’s a big win, and it looks pretty cool! We’ve always been fans of steampunk, so now you know why we think this is rad. This would surely have people on the streets taking a second look.

But we understand that a vehicle such as this might be banned from roads in some countries because of windscreen obstructions. Not to mention that there are protrusions that could potentially hurt pedestrians when they get too close to the car.

Care for a shower?

The first mechanical shower was patented in England by William Feetham back in the 1760s. The stove maker from London used a contraption to force water into a vessel located above the user’s head. Showerheads surely have come a long way since then.

However, we’re sure that William Feetham would be turning over in his grave if he saw this modern shower. What has the world come to? Why would you attach the shower head to the door of a cabinet? This person surely had a lot of free time on their hands.

Does anyone need this?

Whoever thought that this DIY project would be a good idea needs to rethink their lives. Seriously, a resin-encased sausage? For what purpose and reason? We could think of a lot of other things that can be encased in resin, but food is certainly not one of them.

This has got to be one of the “wurst” projects we have ever seen – pun intended. If this is a way of keeping the roaches away from food, the original poster needs to reconsider his living conditions and might even need to move somewhere else cleaner.

What is this supposed to be?

Here’s yet another DIY creation that nobody wanted or asked for. This one might have been made solely for internet clout because we don’t see its purpose at all, aside from the fact that it is unhygienic. We’re not going anywhere near this pasta.

We would like to thank the person who pointed out that this is not real. Apparently, it’s a screen grab from a satirical video that makes fun of DIY projects that are absurd. As absurd as this one may look, we wouldn’t be surprised if someone tried this out.

Herbs and spices on the wall

Well, this is one way of ensuring that your bathroom doesn’t smell every time someone relieves themselves. What you see here is lime plaster with spices such as cardamom, turmeric, and ginger, and the original poster said it makes the bathroom smells divine.

However, we think that this idea makes the bathroom wall look weird. If you want the scent, perhaps you can just buy those bathroom fresheners instead of subjecting the walls to this atrocity. There are also various brands of scented candles available nowadays.

This is a first

Cars that are no longer fit to be driven end up in junkyards and scrap yards. This person, however, had an idea that might soon take the world by storm if only people could execute it properly. Who knew the rear end of pick-up trucks could be converted to pools?

We certainly didn’t think this was possible until we saw this image. This might be a bit too “rural” for some people, but this is a clever idea. Unlike the other entries on this list, this car-to-pool conversion was done nicely. It might even become a thing a few years from now.

Care for some barbecue in bed?

Breakfast in bed has been a real thing for quite a lot of time. A deep dive into history reveals that it was once only enjoyed by affluent married women who had a number of servants in their homes to do their bidding.

How good would it be not being bothered in the morning with cooking? All you need to do is get other people to serve you bacon and do all the work for your best meal of the day. And if that isn’t enough, you can always have some barbecue in bed if you try this DIY idea.

There goes your money

Antique vases cost a lot of money, especially because some people happily pay millions of dollars for them just to complete their collections. If you’re into collecting this stuff, you have to be wary of scams, outrageous prices, and dupes.

If you are the owner of such antiques, you have to be very careful when handling them. You wouldn’t want to break them or chip them because that means the antiques will lose value. Don’t be like these people who drilled a hole in their Chinese vase that was worth hundreds of thousands.

Did a child do this?

We don’t hate this DIY project, but we need to ask if a child did this. Doesn’t it look like something a little kid would do? This looks less like a paint job and more like someone covered the car with a bunch of fridge magnets.

Hilariously, someone on the internet pointed out that the car’s owner must work for the post office, seeing how much he likes letters. This must be a publicity stunt of some kind because no one in their right mind would allow this atrocity to be done to their vehicle.

When the knob is missing

Missing door knobs and drawer knobs are common in any household, especially those with children. Most people would go to the hardware store and get a replacement for their missing knobs, but there are those who don’t resort to that.

Instead of getting a new knob, this person used a Coca-Cola bottle cap to replace the missing knob. Drawer knobs are not that expensive, so we’re guessing that this person was either just too busy or too lazy to get one from the local hardware store.

Poor bug!

This is another glue gun project that shouldn’t have been. Even if the bug was already dead when the person found it, it shouldn’t have been subjected to something as cruel as this. This isn’t fashionable and we doubt anyone will want to wear this thing.

The bug looks like it’s covered in snot. The fact that there’s someone out there who thought this was creative and artistic is beyond us. If you want morbid accessories like this, you can buy them in local stores and online. No need to resort to doing something like this.

Straight from nightmares!

This is a toy that looks like it came straight out of a nightmare. Would any child want to play with this? Would they even be able to sleep peacefully with this toy looking over them at night? It doesn’t look very friendly or safe.

If we had children, we would keep this doll away from them. It can easily traumatize a child and affect them as they grow. It might be pretty affordable, but it’s hideous, and even if the store offered it to us for free, we wouldn’t want it.

The singing rocks

If you’re on social media, you must have seen a video of a certain whimsical creature that twirls around the woods in a green cap and a white gown. While the man behind the creature doesn’t sell it, you can opt for a different whimsical creature to have at home.

Who would take their time to build these whimsical rocks? Judging by how they’re on sale, we’re assuming that they weren’t very popular with customers. Though these rocks would make for the perfect place to hide our keys when we go out!

Does anyone want a drawing glove?

Drawing gloves have gained popularity in the last few years. This must-have for digital artists who use tablets to draw is made of high-quality material. It helps reduce palm rejection and friction between the surface of the tablet and the hand.

It also leaves the thumb and index finger free to hold the drawing pen. While these drawing gloves are readily available in stores, they’re not that cheap, so we get why someone would take the time to create this dupe.

Why not just buy a new razor?

Sometimes we have so little money that we can’t even buy a new razor. The OP said that this is his dad’s razor. They must be so out of luck that they can’t spare any cash for a new razor. But then the man had this crazy DIY idea to replace his razor handle.

We have to say that the man is a genius for even thinking of replacing the broken handle with a screw. However, we can’t help wondering if this razor will be helpful at all, considering that it will likely be hard to keep the razor steady with this new “handle.”

This isn’t therapeutic at all

The things you see in the photo below are supposed to be therapy chairs for children. One quick look at the chairs, and you’ll wonder if they look therapeutic at all, just like we did. We hate to be mean, but in all honesty, they look nightmarish.

The hospital manager must have taken one look at those chairs and told the staff to send it straight to the bins. Any child would be hesitant to sit on those. They look like they are going to devour the children without mercy.

The homemade dog door

Not everyone can afford to purchase doors that come with pre-installed pet doors. Luckily for these people, there are plenty of online tutorials that teach homeowners how to make their own pet doors. But we’re pretty sure that this idea is not so helpful.

We can’t help but think that this idea makes theft and break-ins so much easier. Some DIY projects make sense, while others don’t, and this one is a project that makes no sense. Installing a regular dog door would have taken the same amount of effort, if not less.

A triple couch on wheels?

We understand that home space is such a precious commodity nowadays. Real estate prices have skyrocketed, especially in the big cities. That’s why people around the globe are constantly finding ways of making the most of whatever space they have.

Some have resorted to sofa beds to make good use of space. While sofa beds may be practical, there’s a newcomer on the scene that’s baffling people everywhere: the triple couch. Not only is it a three-story couch, but it also comes with wheels too.

Fighting global warming

Global warming has gotten so alarming lately that summers have become scorching hot. A case in point is the heatwave in London. London is usually a rainy and cold place, but the heatwave of 2022 came in three parts and was like nothing English folks have seen before.

This person is perhaps fighting global warming because instead of installing the air-conditioning unit inside their home, they installed it in the exterior. This is the ultimate proof that sometimes you’re better off hiring professionals to do the work instead of trying a DIY method.

How to explain this room?

We’re all for people trying simple DIY projects that won’t affect their lives in case they don’t work. However, lots of people have been trying their hand at DIY interior design, which we’re definitely against. How can you design your house if you’re not a licensed designer?

Before you go on and build something on your own, you need to be very careful when planning the design. Otherwise, you’ll only waste your time, effort, and energy, not to mention precious space. This person didn’t think things through, and this is what they got.

What a custom paint job!

Most of us have had the bad luck of getting pooped on by a pigeon. When they do it on our cars, it’s pretty annoying. That’s why we don’t understand why anyone would get a pigeon poop-inspired paint job on their car.

We wouldn’t accept this person’s services even if they offered to paint our car for free. However, some people on the internet said that this DIY job is pretty cool and that it made the car stand out. What do you think?

Don’t know how to sew? No problem!

Sewing is something that not everyone can do. The talented few who know how to sew can make gorgeous things with their talents. The rest of us have to resort to buying ready-made clothes. If you’re part of the group of people who can sew, consider yourself lucky.

We can’t deny that it’s helpful to learn basic sewing just in case you need to mend your clothes on a night out. You don’t want to end up like this person, who had to resort to using zip ties to fix their jeans. It may look fun, but that’s not the way to go.

How are you getting on that bed?

As we already mentioned, most apartments don’t have a lot of space. The spacious ones are usually way too expensive, so interior designers have to come up with different ways to maximize a tiny apartment’s space. However, this designer wasn’t very clever.

How can anyone get on that bed? Even if there’s a foldable stair somewhere, there’s not enough space between the bed and the ceiling! We’re pretty sure you’ll agree that this DIY design idea is not very smart and unlikely to be useful!

Was this really necessary?

Creative minds invent things to make life easier for regular folks. However, they shouldn’t create things that will make people lazy. We’re already lazy enough as it is, and technology is making the younger generations even lazier. This invention will certainly make us work less.

This is a DIY invention that people don’t really need. We know that our foods aren’t going to season themselves, but it’s not that hard to season them. Hand-grinding the spices would only take a few minutes, right? Get some arm exercise while you can!

Get ready for identity theft

Although this is a clever way of recycling things, it’s also a sure way of getting your identity stolen. You don’t want to be one of the millions of people who have fallen victim to identity thieves. It’s difficult to rebuild your life after being victimized by such people.

You can always turn your old credit card into a keychain. However, the last thing you want is for people to find out your full name, birthday, address, and other sensitive data. Instead of using the bottom part of the card, use the top half, and you should be safe.

We pity all the teddy bears

Teddy bears play a huge role in most people’s childhoods. Lots of us had a favorite teddy bear that we would hold onto and take everywhere. Losing the teddy bear for even just one night was enough to make us cry for hours on end.

We bet nobody would have thought that this is where some teddy bears end up after we grow up: in the toilet. Whoever thought of this project must have loved their stuffed toys so much that they couldn’t fathom the idea of getting rid of them forever.

A work of art?

The person who made this and tried to sell it must have been under the influence of something strong. This ‘homemade’ stool made of spray foam isn’t going to cut it. Whoever ends up sitting on this stool must be ready to fall and get hurt.

The person who created this abominable stool even had the audacity to list the item on Facebook and charge 200 bucks for it. We just hope nobody is foolish enough to pay good money for it and bring it home with them.

Another shoe abomination

We just had to end our list with the craziest DIY project we have ever seen. Owning a pair of Air Jordans is not a privilege that everyone has, so it is insulting to see that someone would deliberately do this to their shoes.

The person who created this monstrosity better not show their face around sneakerheads and shoe enthusiasts because they’ll definitely be in trouble. It looks like they dropped the shoes in a seashell boil and left them there overnight. And to think they’re charging $250 for this – it has to be a joke!