8 Home Improvement Fails: One Owner Says Their Fix Works Better
Home improvements start with the promise of making a room work better, but these eight projects leave you trying to understand why someone chose that fix—and when they decided it was finished.
Extra counter space seems worth having until you notice the stairs beneath it, while mounting a television close to the wall takes on a different meaning once the screen comes down and exposes the carved-out plaster behind it.
Some choices become problems for the next person who moves in; others remain in use because their owners see no reason to change them, including one shower curtain fix that might make you question where resourcefulness ends and a bad idea begins.
1. The Mantel That Took the TV Down With It
The TV is face down on the floor, its stand still attached. Beside it lies the mantel that once held it above the stone fireplace. A bare strip across the wall marks where the whole arrangement came apart.
The post’s title supplies the plan: “We’ll use Liquid Nails to put this mantle on the wall for our TV, and it should be perfect.”
The photo does not establish which part failed first. It does show the consequence of putting a television on a shelf that could not stay attached. What was meant to frame the fireplace became the scene in front of it.
2. The Kitchen Counter That Covers the Stairs
At first glance, the dark countertop looks like a breakfast bar between the kitchen and living room. Then you notice the white balusters beneath it—and the stairs descending under the slab.
The counter turns the top of a stair railing into another kitchen surface. More room for food preparation comes with a detail that makes the layout hard to read: the staircase disappears beneath a feature you expect to stand beside.
Without the slab, the opening would explain itself. With it, you have to stop and work out where the kitchen ends and the stairs begin.
3. The Light Switch That Claimed Part of the Door Trim
“I love my new house but I die inside a little bit every time I walk past this,” the homeowner wrote.
The source of that feeling occupies a small patch of wall. A double light switch sits so close to the doorway that its cover plate overlaps the brown casing. The trim has a cutout to accommodate it.
The switch itself might fade into the background. The notch keeps drawing attention to the collision between two parts that should have fit beside each other. Once you spot it, the rest of the doorway becomes a frame for that one detail.
4. The Stairwell Where the Lights Took Over
There is no shortage of light fixtures here. Dome lights cover the ceiling and continue down the stairwell wall, scattered above the wood steps and white railing.
“My boss thought these were a good idea,” the poster wrote.
One fixture would be easy to overlook. This many become the room’s main feature. Your eye moves from dome to dome, searching for a pattern that might explain their placement.
The stairs have become a backdrop for the lighting.
5. The TV Mount That Came With a Carved-Out Wall
Getting a television close to the wall took a demolition project in this home. Deep recesses surround the mounting bracket, with rough channels and missing plaster extending below it.
The Reddit poster, a handyman, said they were hired to fill the damage left by a previous owner. The post’s title explains the apparent goal: “Guy really wanted his TV flat against the wall.”
With the screen in place, some of the excavation might have been hidden. Take it down, and a clean-looking installation leaves a wall that needs repair. The next person has to deal with everything the television concealed.
6. The Yellow Paint That Changed the Whole Room’s Light
“My dad painted the light yellow,” the poster wrote.
The rectangular ceiling fixture now glows yellow-green, with dark mottled patches across its cover. Paint has changed both the fixture’s appearance and the light passing through it.
A color choice that might have occupied one small surface now reaches the room below. Instead of looking up and noticing a painted cover, you experience its tint wherever the light falls.
7. The Painted Toilet Seat That Started Shedding Its Finish
A purple seat and black lid give this white toilet a sharp contrast. The missing patches around the seat’s inner edge give it another one.
The poster said their roommate painted the seat and lid. In the comments, they identified the coating as spray primer for miniature painting.
The chipped finish brings the white surface back into view in fragments. What began as a color change has become a patchwork around the part people use and clean. The bathroom update now looks unfinished without anyone taking a brush to it again.
8. The Shower Curtain Held Up by Zip Ties
Black zip ties loop through the curtain’s grommets and around the shower rod. Their untrimmed ends stick up above it, making the substitute hard to miss.
The poster explained that they used them instead of buying shower curtain rings after moving into an apartment. But they also defended the result: “they work well and slide smoother than most curtain rings I’ve had.”
That makes this the outlier. The curtain hangs, the ties slide, and the person who uses it likes the fix. Its place among the fails comes down to whether you can accept those black tails above the rod.
Which of these fixes would you undo first—and have you ever found a home repair that made you wonder what the person was thinking?