List of 84 DIY Projects

John Spacey, updated on June 18, 2024

DIY projects are efforts to create value yourself that is usually provided by professionals or the industrial economy. This exploded in popularity with the commercialization of the internet whereby information on how to do things yourself was widely shared on websites, vlogs and podcasts. This represents a type of social and cultural revolution whereby people are restoring historical values and ethics related to self-sufficiency and not wasting things. People also commonly find designing, producing, repairing and customizing things to be personally rewarding. The following are common examples of DIY projects.

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Home Improvement

Maintenance, repairs, renovations and design changes to a home by the homeowner themselves including both interior and exterior projects. This ranges from relatively simple cosmetic changes such as new wallpaper to individuals who construct their own homes. Complex projects may require the work of professionals such as structural engineers.

Interest Projects

Projects driven by your interests such as hobbies. This includes research projects driven by a sense of exploration or curiosity. Some interest products also create value for your household such as a culinary project that produces healthy meals.

Traditional Production

Producing value using traditional methods that have existed for many generations. This can include economic activity such as cottage industry that creates products for sale from the home.

Outdoor Projects

Improving or making use of outdoor spaces including roofs. This includes the construction and maintenance of outdoor things such as a shed, deck, fence or playground equipment. Outdoor projects can also have conservation, sustainability and resilience goals such as making use of stormwater or cooling a building with surrounding vegetation.

Reuse & Repair

The process of reusing things and extending their useful life with maintenance, repair and repurposing. This can include the process of salving and making use of parts and materials. Reuse has two types known as downcycling and upcycling that produces new things of less and more value than the original thing.

Technology DIY

Creating, repairing, extending or customizing technology or using technology such as 3D printers to create non-technological things. This can be based on enthusiasm for technologies themselves such as a video game enthusiast who builds a high performance gaming computer. Technology DIY can also be based on other needs such as building a home security system to meet physical security and privacy needs.

Other DIY

Do-it-yourself can potentially be used to create most things you need. DIY projects can be driven by a need to save costs, meet unique requirements or express your creative and productive potential. The following are further types of DIY project beyond the categories above.