You Showed Us: 20 Nutty Home Fixes

A few weeks ago I shared the way my friend Kathy is keeping her microwave door shut with a piece of driftwood and asked you all what kinds of nutty fixes you’ve made around your house. Duct tape, sticks and screwdrivers served big roles. After looking through perfectly styled photos at Houzz, it’s a relief to see others living the same way I am — with jury-rigged solutions we don’t even bat an eye at anymore. Here are some of the ones Houzzers shared. Don’t try (some of) this at home!

Houzz user Jeanie’s microwave door shut OK, but it was noisy. “My microwave was making this loud, annoying vibration sound,” she writes. “I asked my husband to take a look and this was how he fixed it for me … with a screwdriver hanging out the side to stop the vibration.”


Doors that don’t close are a common problem. Custom Spaces Design will soon be saving the day with new appliances for these clients, but for now, their oven needs a crutch to keep the door closed.


Houzzers don’t let that space a broken appliance takes up go to waste. “My dishwasher doesn’t work — never has, and I probably wouldn’t use it if it did,” writes Jean Mombourquette. “So I turned it into a filing cabinet — paper fits perfectly in the slots that are supposed to be for dishes! It is in such a handy place, too. For those of you who have a paper-clutter problem, I highly recommend this!”


Sometimes when you want to preserve original fixtures, you have to install some nutty home fixes. At user sephicks‘ 1960s ranch house, the temperature knob on the stove broke off a few years ago, and replacement parts have not been available for decades. No worries, a screwdriver does the trick.


Over at Houzz user lomaracantoo’s summer cabin, the washer doors latch recently broke. A stick lodged between the door and another piece of furniture holds it shut. We hope for the cabin’s sake that it holds through the entire wash cycle.


Old stove parts are a common problem when it comes to nutty home fixes. “Shortly after we moved into our 1909 Craftsman house, one burner on the electric stove (installed in 1949 when the original kitchen was remodeled) stopped working,” writes AmyCat. The replacement parts were no longer available, and she knew she’d never need all four burners at once anyway. “I had the repair guy disconnect the power to that burner … later I removed all the burner parts, leaving a hole in the stove-top, and filled the hole with a ceramic trivet from a local crafter.”


This fix from ciderhillfarm reminded me of taping wire to my window as a teenager to pick up 97X, the alternative rock and roll. “I complained there was too much static on the kitchen radio,” she writes. “A few feet of wire, plus an old guitar string, strung over the window and weighted with a fly swatter … Gotta love Mr. Fix It!”


When lathira‘s chickens were afraid of the dark in their temporary coop, she knew putting in windows wasn’t worth the big effort. Instead, she drilled holes and filled them with glass lids from candles to let in the light.

Lathira, we look forward to seeing their new coop when you’re done. Please shoot us some images when it’s photo-ready!

Learn more about chicken coops


Ugh, thermostats. I have one that is placed in a spot that bugs me to no end. Even more annoying, one of Houzzer Candace Morehouse’s eyesore thermostats was not even functioning. “Since the nonfunctional one is attached to wood paneling in the kitchen and would leave a hole if removed, I covered it with a little shelf unit with doors that have decorative heart-shaped openings,” she writes. “You can still see some of the thermostat, so I broke out my scrapbooking supplies and covered it with veggie stickers —I’ve tried to convince myself it’s just part of my kitchen decor.”


Holes in tile are no fun, either. When Shawna Waller had a leak in her faucets that couldn’t be repaired, a modern fixture replaced the old three-handled one, but left three holes. A brand new tile job was not in the cards at that point.


“I dug out the old escutcheon plate that we had removed when we got new countertops in our kitchen and bought a hole plug at Home Depot,” she writes. “Add copious amounts of caulk and voilà — a couple bucks and the shower is once again usable and leak free.”


After dragging home this cabinet, appytrails and her husband were pleased with how well it fit into their dining area. However, they weren’t so pleased to discover it had holes drilled down the side (it originally was part of a three-piece set). A dangling houseplant provides some living camouflage, covering up the holes.


Like thermostats, placement of light switches can also be problematic. When martibsmith finally found a dresser that fit into this niche, there was one detail that didn’t quite fit. “See that paint stirring stick from Lowe’s next to it? That, my friend, is how the Smiths now turn that light switch on,” she writes.


Morgan Vee looks to the hair accessories drawer when she needs tiebacks. In this case, a plastic hair clip works.


While awaiting some recaulking on these upstairs windows over at lauren222’s place, two panes fell out. Until they are fixed, duct tape and strapping tape hold them in place. “I pretend not to notice,” she writes. “This temporary fix has been there awhile.”


Here’s another window fix. Sweet husband dubocraft used a window in the closet to create jewelry storage for his wife. It’s a piece of plywood cut to fit into the window, with hooks for hanging.


He placed a mirror on the exterior side to look like a window. To me, this is not really a nutty home fix but a very clever and skilled solution.


“Turned on the pool pump in the spring and leaky pipes! While my husband was waiting for the parts to arrive, his solution was the hillbilly waterfall,” writes sarahsloan. “You should have seen our kids roll their eyes. Couldn’t stop laughing.”


To divert gutter water from running into the garage, Myra Alkins had to get creative. “There was no room for the traditional diverter, so I took the lid from a 5 gallon plastic kitty litter, cut out one corner and shoved it under the spout,” she writes. “The water now flows away from the garage out into the driveway.”


Houzz user kspollock needed to do something about the shredded ottoman to get this room staged for listing. A $9 faux sheepskin rug from Ikea hides the problem and adds trendy texture to the room. This is such an easy fix and it also works well for covering up stains.

Guys, please keep them coming, I have had such a ball reading about and seeing your home fixes.

More: See them all

URL: You Showed Us: 20 Nutty Home Fixes http://www.decor-ideas.org/cases-view-id-22147.html