- 5 weeks ago
Join Mitch as he take you on a journey through his favorite projects on Hometalk. From stunning furniture makeovers and festive holiday decor to clever home hacks, he'll share the stories behind each creation and why they're special to him in this special, Member's Only-first content!
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ABOUT HOMETALK: Welcome to Hometalk! We are the world's largest DIY community, dedicated to helping you transform your home with budget-friendly ideas, clever hacks, and genius decor projects.
📱 FOLLOW US:
FACEBOOK → https://www.facebook.com/Hometalk
INSTAGRAM → https://www.instagram.com/hometalk
PINTEREST → https://www.pinterest.com/hometalk
TIKTOK → https://www.tiktok.com/@hometalk
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hi, HomeTalkers. I'm Mitch, and I've been creating projects with HomeTalk for years now.
00:05Looking back, it's amazing to see how many DIYs we've built together. These are the DIYs that
00:11people still ask me about. The ones that challenge me the most are the projects that turned out even
00:17better than I imagined. Let's start with one of the most unexpected viral projects,
00:22my Ziploc Bag Walkway. What started as a simple idea turned into one of my favorite outdoor DIYs
00:29ever. I've got this area just off my back porch that I want to improve a little bit, so I'm
00:33going
00:33to start scraping all the grass out of the area. I'm going to grab some high-strength concrete mix.
00:39Now, we don't want to make a mess, so take a rod or any kind of brew handle, place it
00:44under the bag,
00:45cut the top, pull up on the rod, and watch this. You're able to split the bag in half and
00:51not have
00:52to carry 80 pounds around with you. To mix it, go ahead and get some water, put it in the
00:56bottom.
00:56There's nothing worse than that concrete sticking to the bottom. Pour it in, add some more water.
01:03Now, this concrete mix is going to be a little soupier than normal. I do mix more of this at
01:09one time than normal, but I want to show you all how we get this done. So, just keep mixing,
01:14add water as you need, not too much. Now, look at the consistency we're looking for.
01:19I want it to slide right off the tool, just like this. See that?
01:23Now, grab a quart bag, ziplock if you can, and we're going to start filling these up.
01:29You want no less than half a bag, no more than three quarters. There's a much faster way to fill
01:36these by using a scoop, but I just want to show you how we fill the bag. Once we do
01:41get it full,
01:42what you're going to need to do is make sure that you get all of the air out, seal it
01:47up,
01:47and we're going to make quite a few of these. Set these to the side. The concrete's not going to
01:51dry
01:51too fast. Now, find that area and start placing those bags. Look at that. Just start smoothing out.
01:59Now, the way to do this is take the ziplock part, put it up underneath the bag, place it where
02:05you
02:05need it, and then start shaking it. It's going to expand as the concrete settles. Smooth it out,
02:12and then place the next one next to it. It's going to go ahead and expand where it needs to
02:18go.
02:18So again, take the bag, fold it underneath, place it right where you need to, and then you're going
02:24to give it a shake. It's going to smooth it right out. Now, part of this, I've got a surprise
02:31for you.
02:31I took some rocks that glow during the night, as much as they get sunlight. I'm going to cut a
02:37top
02:38part of the bag out, peel it away, and I'm going to take those little pebbles and put them in
02:44there.
02:44Just push on them just enough to where they embed themselves in the concrete. You can put one, two,
02:51three, or four, as many as you like. Put them in there. Again, just cut the top off before the
02:57concrete dries, just like that. Peel it back. Give the bag a little shake, though. That'll help smooth it
03:04out, and then start putting those pebbles in. Once these are in and the bags have dried overnight,
03:11start cutting the plastic, and you're going to peel it away. If it doesn't peel all the way off
03:16underneath, it's okay. It's like a weed barrier, but I like to make sure all my plastic is pulled
03:22apart. It's going to have a wet look, but it will dry out. Do this to all of the stones.
03:28Just pull it
03:29off of there. Toss those away, and put them in place. Do not worry about those cracks. This is
03:35how we're going to solve this. Take some sand and place it all in between the cracks. Now, you can
03:40just dump it out. I like to spread it a little evenly just to make sure I fill it really
03:43good.
03:44Once you've got it on there, go ahead and start brooming it off. It's going to fill the cracks,
03:48but it's going to come off the top. Get it all nice and neat. When we come back, we're going
03:53to show
03:53you what amazing pathway or little porch can look like. And there it is. Our antique rustic cobblestone
04:00looking path made specifically for you. And do you remember those glowing pebbles? Here it is at
04:06night leading the path. They are so nice. Next up is my Halloween archway. I love this one because
04:12it completely transformed the front of my house and showed just how much impact a DIY project can have
04:19during the holidays. For this next Halloween project, go ahead and run over to Dollar Tree
04:23and grab a lot of pool noodles. First thing we're going to do is take a nice sharp razor knife.
04:28We're going to go up about six inches on the first noodle. Start in the middle, but don't cut straight
04:33down. You want to go to the side. What we're going to try to do is cut out a wedge.
04:39Once you cut it out,
04:40go ahead and remove the wedge. But the first thing you want to do is hold onto it. We can
04:45use that later.
04:46Next thing we want to do is turn it over exactly 180 degrees. Again, go up six inches and cut
04:53out at a
04:54diagonal so you can cut another wedge on this side. Again, save this wedge. You'll need it for later.
05:01Take some saran wrap, bunch it around that edge. You're going to pull those two ends together to make
05:07a point. You don't need to make the saran wrap pretty, not at all, because what we're going to do
05:12is grab a heat gun and very slowly start melting and surrounding the pool noodle with that surround
05:19wrap. Don't get too much heat on there, though. All we want to do is shrink wrap it. Take that
05:25wedge
05:25on some of the other pool noodles that you've cut out, and it can make a pointier end. Again,
05:31take that saran wrap and wrap it around just like this. You want to go ahead and circle it up.
05:37And again, it doesn't need to look pretty because it doesn't need to be smooth. We want a texture
05:43look to it. I know what you're thinking. There's some gaps in there. Doesn't matter. We're going to
05:48paint this afterwards, so you're not going to see that. One other thing that we can do is in the
05:54middle of the pool noodle, cut a little slit. Take that wedge, and you're going to pop it right
05:59inside there. It's going to hold really nice. Don't let it stick straight up. Put it at an angle.
06:04Grab some saran wrap and place it all over. This is going to give this branch, and it's going to
06:10make it look like it's got a little thorn in it. Everything we do, we're going to cover all the
06:15pool noodles with saran wrap and use the heat gun to shrink wrap it around. Take it outside and give
06:20it a base coat. I went ahead and went with black. That's a good base painted all over. It's going
06:26to
06:26be a little difficult to get all of the colors of the green covered up, but don't worry. We're going
06:32to go ahead and do some touch-ups later. The next thing I did was take one and a quarter
06:36inch PVC
06:37pipe, cut a 45 degree angle on it so I can drive it into the ground. This is what's going
06:42to be the
06:43base of my arch. Put that in both sides of the sidewalk, and then I'm going to take one inch
06:49PVC
06:49pipe and cut it to size. But the one inch PVC pipe goes right inside the one and a quarter,
06:56and it makes it great and strong. Next, I'm going to grab some zip ties. Start grabbing those pool
07:02noodles that are all painted up, and we're going to start zip tying them all around the edge of the
07:07arch. Right in the beginning, I know it's going to be a little discouraging thinking, how can I cover
07:11all the pipe? Don't worry about that. Keep applying them anywhere and everywhere that it looks good to
07:16you. I had about 15 pool noodles that I made, and I just have branches and thorns all over them,
07:23all painted black. As you can see, I just went all around the arch where it looks like it really
07:28needed them. I'm trying to cover as much of the PVC pipe as I can. Just go anywhere and everywhere,
07:34use your zip ties, and cut off all the excess zip tie that you can, and just cover up everything
07:39you
07:39can do. It just looks really amazing. Once you got it all covered, take some black paint, any PVC pipe
07:47that's showing, go ahead and paint it black. Then it's time to two-tone. Grab some brown, add a little
07:52bit, not too much, and then last but not least, I grab some gray. Just randomly all over, gives it
08:00another little bit of texture to it. Look how amazing this turns out. It almost looks like a
08:07real branch with the saran wrap and the paint. But last but not least, let's go ahead and grab
08:12one of them skulls and give it a lobotomy right on the back end from Dollar Tree. We're going to
08:17take
08:17that zip tie, put it right through the back, and that's how we're going to hold it on to the
08:23arch
08:23that we did. Put it on there, zip tie it, add a little color to it also with the black,
08:28and look at
08:29that. This arch turned out amazing. Got this from Dollar Tree also, a little lizard skeleton. It looks
08:36amazing. This arch just turned out better than I hoped. All the little trick-or-treaters are going to
08:41walk through it on Halloween night. That was such a fun Halloween build. Now, one of the coolest
08:48projects I did was the wall lights I made from PVC pipe. In fact, it was so popular that people
08:54reached
08:54out to me to see if I could build them their own pair. But there's no need to do that.
08:59Since this
09:00video was so easy to follow, anyone can do it. Check this out. Let's head down to our local hardware
09:06store
09:06and grab a three-inch pipe that's two foot long. What I need to do is cut this in half.
09:11Easy to do
09:12since it's two foot long. We're just going to make a mark at the 12-inch line. I can use
09:17any type of
09:18saw, skill saw, or anything like that. I have a Sawzall, and it works great. It just cuts right through.
09:23Now, the ends of these might be a little rough from the cut. Just take a little bit of 80
09:27-grit
09:28sandpaper, rub it all the way around, and it'll smooth it right out. Now, we're going to need three
09:33different sizes of drill bits. Large, medium, and small. Start with the small drill bit. We are going
09:40to go randomly around the pipe and drill holes. You will see from here what kind of pattern you're
09:46looking for, and that pattern is no pattern. Pattern is bad. Random is good. We're just going to go all
09:53up and down, drilling holes. Don't cross the halfway mark, though. Once you get a good amount of holes in
10:00there, it's time we're going to switch over to the medium drill bit. Starting in the middle with the
10:07medium drill bit, we're going to go ahead and drill out the holes a little larger. It's easier to do
10:13because we've already drilled it with the smaller drill bit. Switch to the largest and drill out a
10:18few of the small holes on the bottom. As you can see, as we start to paint, we got small,
10:25medium,
10:26and large. Now, with the paint, it covers pretty good. You want to go small little bursts. If it
10:32takes two or three coats, that's better because then you won't get too many runs with the paint.
10:37Once you get it all covered up, it's going to look really good. Make sure you get the inside too.
10:43Let's let that dry, and now I grab some little Jenga pieces from the dollar store. Go ahead and get
10:48some
10:49wood glue and put it on the bottom. Use this scrap piece of wood that I have, and I'm going
10:53to glue
10:54these down. Now, these scrap pieces of wood are a little bit longer than the pipe, and it's going
10:59to do great as a spacer. Once we get it all glued up, I'm going to take some black spray
11:04paint and
11:05paint this wood. I'm only going to go, though, with one coat because I want the grain of the wood
11:10to
11:11kind of come through a little bit. When it dries up, you'll see that it doesn't give it a complete
11:15coverage. My only problem, though, is the solar lights that I'm going to use. They're actually a little
11:20bit too small, but I've got a solution. Take some hot glue, and again, I got some rope from the
11:26dollar store. I'm going to go ahead and glue that on the inside of the pipe at the top. Now,
11:33just keep
11:33wrapping that string all the way around, and it's going to glue in there. Great. That's going to be
11:39our little barrier that's going to hold our light in. As you can see, it holds firm. All we have
11:44to do
11:44is drop the light in, and look at that. It fits perfect, and it's flush with the top. Now, it's
11:50time to take that board we painted, turn it around, and we're just going to put a mounting hook on
11:54the
11:55back. Just one simple one of work since it's lightweight. Now, once everything is dry, we're
12:00going to take some hot glue, put a good amount on both of those little Jenga pieces that are sticking
12:05up. We're going to take our pipe, center it, and go ahead and push it down firmly. It's going to
12:11hold
12:11up really nice. This is not going to be a problem. Now, with the solar light, you click the button,
12:17and watch this. When it's dark, the light comes on, as you can see from this example. Mount the light,
12:22drop in the solar light, and it looks great just sitting on the wall. But when night comes,
12:29look at that light up. Just amazing how the light goes down the wall, and it also shines through the
12:35holes. It does a great job welcoming our guests and family as they arrive at our house late at night.
12:41Last but not least, one of my most popular videos I ever made was my 25 bizarre home hack videos
12:48from using Kool-Aid to see if your toilet is leaking, how to easily clean tile, or how to do
12:54a carpet
12:55repair using ice. This video has it all. Take a look and let me know which one's your favorite.
13:01Our first repair, you're going to go to your toilet, take off the back of the lid, take some Kool
13:06-Aid,
13:06and dump it in the tank in the back. We're checking for leaks that goes into the toilet bowl.
13:12If you see any discoloration, especially lines running down the bowl, you know that it's leaking,
13:19and it's time to repair it and get a new flapper. Next, we're going to go to the grout on
13:24the floor.
13:24Oh, it gets so dirty. All you have to do is take some toilet bowl cleaner, especially the gel formula.
13:30Go ahead and place it on the grout, and let it sit there for about five minutes. Go ahead and
13:35grab you
13:37toothbrushes, and you're going to give it a good scrubbing. Not too hard, but just enough,
13:42and you're going to start seeing the color change. Grab a sponge, wipe it all up, and look at the
13:47difference. It restored that grout to its original color. How about when somebody goes in and out of
13:53the front door and rattles your door, or especially when the air conditioner comes on. The way to stop
13:58the rattling is to grab a cabinet door bumper or felt that goes under a chair door like we have
14:03here.
14:04Cut it to size, place it on the door jamb, and look at that. The door will no longer rattle.
14:11How about when you're moving furniture and you got that dent in the carpet that you just can't get
14:14rid of no matter how many times you vacuum over it. Take some ice, place it on the dent, let
14:19it sit
14:20there for a good 15 to 20 minutes. After that time, remove the ice and take a fork and rub
14:27it out.
14:28Blend in those fibers, and you're going to restore that carpet back to its original look.
14:33How about a shower head that doesn't work correctly or has rust stains on it? What you have is mineral
14:38deposits inside the shower head. You don't have to remove it. Just take a baggie, pour some vinegar
14:44in there. Take that bag, place it over your shower head, secure it with a clip or a rubber band,
14:50and
14:51you're going to let it sit overnight. As you can see on the next day, a lot of that mineral
14:55deposits came
14:56through and is sitting in the bag. Remove the bag gently and carefully. Go ahead and take a sponge,
15:02wipe it all off. It gets rid of the rust stains, and look at that. That shower head works perfectly.
15:09How about trying to hang one of those pesty pitchers or clocks on the wall that have a string? Catching
15:14those on the nail can be a pain. Grab you a fork, put it on the nail, make sure it's
15:20secure,
15:20put the string or the wire around the fork, lower it into position, and it'll catch the nail every
15:27time. The locks on our door can wear out over time. It's just a mechanism inside. Don't use a liquid
15:33spray or any kind of lubricant that way. Grab a pencil. Graphite is a natural lubricant and doesn't
15:39dry out. Just rub it all over the teeth. Put it in a couple of times. It'll lubricate, and look
15:45at that
15:45smooth action every time. I hope you enjoyed these viral videos. Even though these are my favorites,
15:51there are a ton of others you can watch. Remember, there is a video uploaded every day.
15:56Thanks for watching Home Talk, and we'll catch you next time.