“Everyone says it looks professional, but all I can see are my mistakes and uneven tiles.
And TBH, I don’t think I saved anything in the end.”
“Removing our popcorn ceilings.
We thought we could do the whole house in one weekend.
Three years later, we still only have one room de-popcorned.
I tell everyone that whoever said it went ‘out of style’ never had to remove it themselves.
Word to the wise: Just pay someone to do it and back up your back.”
“My brother was taking out a wall in our childhood home.
This started an electrical fire and destroyed the entire house.
He had a professional rebuild it.”
love4dandg
3.
They look great, but it took me about two weeks after work hours in a disassembled kitchen.
It would have taken a professional with a paint gun about an hour."
“I built a retaining wall from wood, but it didn’t last long due to drainage issues.
I should have just hired a pro and built it from concrete products.”
John, 60, Georgia
5.
“Not me, but my mom.
Turns out, primer on a wood floor is important it gives the top coat something to stick to!
She spent the next decade having to repaint or retouch the floor once or twice a year.
Her options were to continue doing that or get the whole thing professionally redone which she eventually did.
The adhesive stuck to the floor but only to maybe 20% of the tile.
It was a disaster.”
emilydbrandt
7.
“One of our first-ever DIY projects was tiling our bathroom.
Let’s just say that I see every imperfection when I shower.
“I tried to re-caulk my bathtub.
pokepop98999900
9.
“Anything my sister attempted on MY house!
Not to even mention the load of unused home improvement crap she filled my garage with!”
10.“Moving.
We rented a U-Haul truck but brought everything upstairs ourselves.
There was no elevator.
We were outside in the winter.
We should’ve just hired movers.”
Brynana_14
11.
“Painting the entire interior of our house.
Granted, it saved us several thousand dollars, but we didn’t do the best job.
And holy cats the arguing!
It was beyond stressful for both my husband and me.
It was during the heat of summer, and we didn’t take any time off work.
In our marriage, we’ve never argued so much except during that time.”
“My husband and I remodeled a kitchen in a 921-square-foot home with two toddlers.
It took forever to complete.
Tracy, 53, Ohio
13.
“ALL OF THEM.
I DIY’d my kitchen backsplash after the cost of renovating my kitchen went over budget.
I figured I could save on labor, but I nearly lost my mind in the process.
SO MUCH OF MY TIME.
Everyone says it looks professional, but all I can see are my mistakes and uneven tiles.
And TBH, I don’t think I saved anything in the end.”
“I built a flagstone patio nothing too large, about 15 by 20 feet.
It was the worst weekend of my life.
Digging 6 inches in clay sucked.
Making the ground flat sucked.
u/Artephius_
15.
You measure everything yourself, and the design and ordering of your cabinets are based on those measurements.
After everything is delivered, someone will come out to your house toofficiallymeasure.
Better hope your initial measurements were right because if not, things need to be reordered.
Finally, we thought we had everything settled, and installation began.
It’s been three months of back-and-forth trying to get everything right.”
16.“Flooring!
We tiled our living roomdining room combo at our last home, and it nearly killed us.
With our new house, the first thing we did was hire flooring people!
It was much less hassle, and they completed it in just three days.”
u/BloodyPinkChanel
17.
“No doubt, drywall finishing.
It’s an art, man, and it takes a thousand passes to become good at it.
Every time I do it, I just wish I’d paid an expert.”
I’ve been able to fix some, but others need an actual professional to come in.
Now there are no lights in the kitchen, and one of the outlets doesn’t work.
He’s been using a camping lantern when it gets dark so he can see.
Another project that was less extreme: The half bath in his house needed to have the flooring replaced.
Anonymous
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
