What Kinds of DIY Projects and Tutorials Does Hunker Cover?

Updated

Hunker covers DIY projects across home decor, gardening, organization, cleaning, and lawn care, with a clear lean toward low-cost builds and upcycled materials. If you want project ideas that reuse everyday items or avoid store-bought prices, its tutorials are aimed at you. If you need professional-grade plans, exact material quantities, or safety-critical electrical and structural work, treat Hunker as an idea source rather than a complete instruction manual.

The main DIY categories on Hunker

Based on the site's current story feed, projects cluster into a handful of recurring areas:

Category What the tutorials typically involve
Design hacks Concealing or restyling fixtures, e.g. hiding a modem in the living room
DIY decor Seasonal and vintage-style decor, e.g. a Dollar Tree pumpkin and doilies project
Garden Building garden structures and upcycling containers, e.g. a potting bench from concrete blocks and wood planks
Garden tools & supplies Repurposing household items, e.g. turning a tennis ball tube into a bird feeder
Pests, weeds & problems Low-cost pest control, e.g. a bottle-cap ant trap using sugar with borax or baking soda
Organization & storage Space-saving storage swaps, e.g. a wall-mounted multi-roll paper towel holder
Cleaning hacks Reusing household items, e.g. flat beer to refresh wooden furniture
Lawn Practical lawn fixes, e.g. comparing sand vs. topsoil for leveling a bumpy lawn
Lawn mowers & tools Maintenance questions, e.g. how long mower blades typically last

What the tutorials look like in practice

Hunker's DIY content generally follows a short, single-task format rather than a full renovation plan. A typical project states the problem, names the materials, and walks through the steps.

A concrete example from the feed: the concrete block and wood plank potting bench. The framing is cost-driven — a store-bought potting bench "can cost hundreds of dollars," while the DIY version uses a few blocks and planks. That pattern repeats across the site: find an expensive or awkward household problem, solve it with cheap or already-owned materials.

The ant trap tutorial is similarly specific: fill bottle caps with a mix of sugar and borax or baking soda. Note that this is a general pest-control method, and you should follow the site's stated ratios and keep the mixture away from children and pets.

How to decide whether a Hunker project fits you

Use these conditions to judge a tutorial before starting:

  • You want low cost and upcycling. Projects built around Dollar Tree items, concrete blocks, tennis ball tubes, and flat beer are explicitly designed to avoid new purchases.
  • You want a quick, single-afternoon task. The format suits small decor, storage, and cleaning fixes, not multi-week builds.
  • You can supply your own measurements. Hunker tutorials describe the approach; you'll usually need to adapt dimensions to your own space, furniture, or garden bed.
  • You're comfortable substituting materials. If a listed item isn't available, the low-cost framing assumes you'll find a comparable alternative.

Skip or supplement a Hunker tutorial when:

  • The project touches electrical wiring, gas, load-bearing structure, or roofing — get a qualified professional's plan instead.
  • You need exact cut lists, load ratings, or code compliance for a permanent build.
  • The project involves pesticides or chemicals around food, children, or pets — verify safe handling from an authoritative source first.

Getting the most from a tutorial

  1. Read the whole piece before buying anything. The material list and the steps sometimes reveal a tool or condition you don't have.
  2. Check what you already own. The cost savings come from reuse, so inventory your garage or recycling bin first.
  3. Adapt dimensions to your space. Measure the wall, shelf, or garden bed the project is for.
  4. Verify the result. For cleaning and furniture-refresh projects, test on a small, hidden area before applying to the whole surface.

Hunker works best as a source of affordable, approachable project ideas you then adapt to your own home and skill level.