One thing people love more than succeeding at a do-it-yourself project is hearing or seeing how someone else fails. That's why the Internet is crowded with photo essays and videos of epic DIY fails.
Some sites, such as Ranker, give viewers the opportunity to vote on the relative ineptitude of DIY projects, such as the project of one clueless "handy" person who overlapped three electrical outlet plates instead of installing the kind with openings for multiple on-off switches. Viewers have ranked it the top thumbs-down-doomed favorite.
Ranker reporter Matt Manser notes that his article about failures posted online in 2017 is intended to show "why there's no shame in asking for a little help every now and then." Based on the Ranker compilation of DIY foibles, it appears that advice may be necessary for even the most basic of home improvement tasks, such as where to install a toilet paper holder.
We decided to take a different direction in this post about DIY flops in 2017. What if a failure also were a success. Here is our own ranking of three fine examples of DIY embarrassment that turned frowns upside down.
#3 -- Soupy Concrete Leads to Solid Advice
Kierstan of The Stone Head blog is ardent about DIY home improvement. After initial success mixing and pouring a concrete countertop for their bathroom, Kierstan says she and her boyfriend became over-confident.
For their second project, they fell back on the old kitchen trick of adjusting ingredients while mixing. Too much water in the bucket? No problem, just keep adding more concrete. But they discovered you can't mess with time-tested recipes such as concrete's precise ratio of sand, cement and water.
Runny glop slid down walls behind cabinets to flow under cardboard protecting the vinyl plank flooring they had installed.
Not being the kind to give up, Kierstan decided to write about the experience and offer advice gathered from experts about how to avoid making concrete soup.
#2 -- IKEA Buys TaskRabbit as DIY Takes a Dive
A number of years ago, the Scandinavian furniture giant IKEA brought its some-assembly-required storm to America. But in 2017, it acknowledged a worldwide downturn in DIY popularity.
So, the company made lemonade out of a lemon of a situation by purchasing home-services startup TaskRabbit, which employs handy types as independent contractors. TaskRabbit workers receive a per-task fee from apartment dwellers and homeowners for putting IKEA furniture together.
Quartz Media notes that, despite being based on a DIY ethic, IKEA is increasing assembly options for customers worldwide. By responding to this characteristic of the sharing economy, the company may be resetting its course for greater success.
#1 -- Learning When to Call in a Professional
Sometimes it takes a blackout to see how essential home improvement professionals are. Carrie of the Lovely Etc. website successfully accomplished many of her own kitchen improvements. But she learned the necessity of calling in a professional when she created a power outage in her home by trying to do electrical work on wall outlets and electrical switches in her kitchen.
Admitting defeat, Carrie called in an electrician. Although embarrassed at first by her failure, Carrie decided there should be no shame in trying, failing and, eventually, bringing in a pro.
Discovering Perspective
One lesson to take from all three of these DIY disappointments is that there is no such thing as failure if you learn from experience. Try, try again -- but perhaps in a different way.
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