Amateur Inventors Who Came Up With Some Hilarious Ideas
If you have a positive outlook on life, a creative brain, and the most mundane of materials, you can probably be an inventor. These people were certainly up for the task, and very few of them were actually engineering students or professional inventors. It just goes to show that a good idea can go a long way.
Keep reading to see a makeshift finger splint, a hamster wheel made out of a fidget spinner, and an indestructible mailbox.
Michelangelo's David
Okay, so we know this doesn't look like Michelangelo's David, but we promise he's in there.
During World War II, the Italians were afraid that the statue would get stolen or damaged, so they built this solid stone house for him. I guess it worked because David is still alive and well today. Well, he's alive and well as a stone statue can be. It was kind of a shame that he had to be locked in a stone coffin once upon a time.
A Boarded Up Store
It might look like this closed store is all boarded up with plywood, but upon closer inspection, that wood is just paper with a wood pattern printed on it.
It's being held up with a few pieces of scotch tape. I feel like it would be less effort and that it would cost less money to just get actual plywood. Printer ink is so expensive! They could have just used regular paper. That wood pattern isn't fooling anyone.
A Watched Smoker Never Smokes
This guy was cooking a big piece of meat for a long time in his backyard smoker.
He didn't want to constantly have to check up on it, so he put a baby monitor near the temperature gauge. This is actually such a smart idea. Now you can go about your business while your smoker does its thing. This guy is going to have delicious ribs in no time. Maybe I should invest in a smoker...
Inside-Out Socks
When these socks are right side out, they have little tigers on them, but when they're inside out, those tigers turn into adorable calico house cats.
It does make it difficult to figure out how you're supposed to put your socks on... I guess you could just consider these socks reversible socks that you can wear any way you like. Sometimes they're cats and sometimes they're tigers but they're always socks and that's what matters.
The Whole World In His Hands
This photo goes all the way around this sphere. And there isn't just another copy of the same photo on the back of the sphere.
It's a panoramic view of this person's neighborhood. I'm not sure who invented this photo technology, but it does seem kind of otherworldly. I never knew that I wanted a photo sphere of my neighborhood until this very moment. I just feel like it would be so much fun to hold.
A New Kind Of Mirror
This person's side mirror fell off of their car, so they decided to attach a new one using this creepy-looking metal hand.
It may not be pretty, but it's certainly a conversation-starter. This definitely looks like something out of an apocalyptic Mad Max movie. I think it would make an excellent movie prop. I guess when you need a mirror on your car, you need a mirror on your car as soon as possible. Sometimes that means getting creative.
This Is Art
We're not sure what's going on here, but we kind of love it. Yes, this is a statue of a man's head shooting water out of his eyeballs into a sheep's eyeballs.
What, you've never seen art before? I actually love this fountain so much. If I could install it in my own backyard I absolutely would. There's something so surreal and strange about it that I can't look away. It turns out that the sheep can't look away either.
A Penny For Your Thoughts
Forget a new paint job, this car is covered roof to wheel in a whole lot of shiny copper pennies.
It must have taken someone a really long time to complete this project. How many pennies do you think are stuck to the outside of this car? I feel like it's a million but I also feel like that might be an overestimate. Although a million pennies would be ten thousand dollars which is a lot of money by any standard.
Fork Chopsticks
This Chinese restaurant stocks their takeout boxes with these fork/chopstick hybrids. Now you can enjoy your food whether your a poker or a picker-upper.
The chopsticks are easy to use, but if you still can't figure them out, there's a fork on the other end. This is such a great idea. Now people who want chopsticks can use chopsticks, but if you aren't a chopsticks wizard and you just want a fork you have that option too. I am all for this takeout innovation.
Clever Use Of Mirrors
Somebody got pretty clever with the decor in this public washroom. The mirrors above the sink are made to look like The Dude from The Big Lebowski's sunglasses.
That's pretty nifty, Dude. Whoever designed this bathroom must be a huge Coen Brothers fan. You have to be pretty committed to The Big Lebowski to design an entire bathroom to look like his face. I'm surprised his face is only on one wall. All four walls should be Lebowski-related.
At The Beach
This restaurant installed a floor that makes customers feel like they're at the beach. This design choice is particularly appropriate for a Hawaiian smoothies spot.
The detail here is kind of amazing. I love how the floor isn't just blue and brown. There are actual wave details where the sea meets the sand. I also love how the smoothie bar is like an island in the middle of the sea. This company really did think of everything.
A Homemade Hamster Wheel
This person made a hamster wheel for his little furry friend out of a round baking dish, a fidget spinner, and a strip of cork to make the surface of the wheel more grippy.
It even looks better than those at the store! It just goes to show that with a little bit of innovation you really can do whatever you set your mind to. I'm sure this hamster really appreciates his new exercise wheel.
Tape Fixes Everything
We've seen people fix things with tape before, but never quite like this.
Whenever this computer monitor needs some extra support, these two rolls of tape are there to help. Look, is it time for this guy to get a new computer monitor? Probably. But maybe he can't get to the store to get one right now, so this tape support system is going to have to do for now. It's a very temporary solution.
A Makeshift Finger Splint
This person injured their pinky finger, and they didn't have a splint on hand (no pun intended), so they made one out of common office materials.
Yes, those are paperclips. I guess if you need a splint in a pinch, you have to make do with what you have. If all you have is some paper clips and a few strips of velcro, then paper clips and velcro will have to do the job until you can get an actual splint.
Wine From A Distance
This super long decanter lets waiters serve you your wine from six feet away.
This device is going to be particularly useful when restaurants can finally reopen. It's kind of perfect. It's also the tiniest decanter we've ever seen. I guess it's really good for pouring really tiny glasses of wine? The whole thing does seem a little bit silly when you think about it, but I guess it makes for an interesting dining experience.
Not A Window
There isn't actually a window on the side of this building.
Somebody just put a sheet of dark glass up on the brick to make it look like there's a window. I don't really get what the point of this is. It may make the building look slightly better from afar, but it doesn't really help anyone who is inside the building. It just seems like a waste of a glass panel to me, but hey, to each their own.
A New Hubcap
This car tire lost its hubcap, so the owner of the car got to work making a new one.
Basically, he just popped the lid of a mason jar in its place. This is actually a brilliant idea. Now nobody will know that the hubcap was ever missing, and this guy got to recycle a mason jar lid. It seems like a win-win situation to me. I would never have known that there was a mason jar lid in that tire if nobody told me.
An Indestructible Mailbox
This person's mailbox kept getting destroyed and vandalized, so he came up with a brilliant solution. Let's see those vandals try to destroy this mailbox now.
This thing is basically bullet-proof. If some kid was driving by this mailbox and tried to hit it with a baseball bat, it would probably destroy the baseball bat. This is definitely a solution I can get behind. It also seems like it would be a great thing to implement in tornado territory.
DIY Beer Pong
These college students wanted to play beer pong, but they didn't have a table, so they used a drying rack instead.
It looks like necessity really is the mother of invention. Drying rack beer pong comes with its own set of challenges. For example, the ping pong balls can't really bounce off of the drying rack which makes this an even harder game. Do you think you would be good at drying rack beer pong?
It Still Works
This person was painting a little too vigorously and ended up snapping the handle off of their paintbrush. That's nothing a zip tie can't fix, apparently.
The paintbrush lives to paint another day. I'm pretty amazed that all it takes is a zip tie to make this broken paintbrush stable enough to work. Zip ties can do anything, apparently. It may be time to get a new paintbrush after this paint job is done, though.
Hands-Free Hand Sanitizer
This guitar shop attached a bottle of hand sanitizer to a cymbal pedal so now you can dispense hand sanitizer without having to touch the bottle.
It's kind of brilliant. It is both on theme and it keeps people safe. Sometimes you need to get a new guitar in the middle of a pandemic and it's important that you do that in the safest way possible. The world has become a very strange and scary place.
Poor Puppy
This dog had to have surgery on his leg, so his owner made him a cone out of an old beer box.
He attached a tennis ball to the bottom of his cast for extra stability. Who knew that these everyday objects would be so useful in helping a dog get better and get back on his feet? I love when people use ingenuity and creativity to help animals. What a great use of our inventive abilities as human beings.
A Mirrored House
This house isn't invisible, it just has a lot of mirrors on the outside of it. This doesn't just look cool.
The mirrors also help reflect the light and heat of the sun away from the house. I can't imagine that having a house like this would be nearly as cool in the city or the suburbs, but in the middle of the desert it reflects sand and a pure blue sky on all sides.
An Above-Ground Pool
This amateur inventor and craftsman was able to make an above-ground pool all by himself using a bunch of wooden palettes.
Now that's how you reduce, reuse, and recycle. If you think that you'd like to have a pool in your backyard but you don't want to pay someone to install it, maybe you should just get a bunch of palettes, watch some YouTube videos, and try to make a pool all on your own.
A Tool That Does It All
This guy kept using whatever tool was in his hand as a hammer, so his wife bought him this multipurpose tool.
It's a hammer head attached to an adjustable wrench. I don't know why I don't see more of these multipurpose tools at hardware stores. This seems like such a good idea. Although, if you lose this tool, that means you lose all your tools. At least when your tools are separate you can't lose them all at once.
Laptop In A Box
This person wanted to use their computer outside, so they placed it in a cardboard box.
Now the light doesn't make it hard for them to see the screen, and the computer doesn't get overheated. It seems like a perfect solution and all it took was an empty cardboard box. Sometimes the most brilliant solutions are the ones that are the least complicated. You don't have to be a genius to be a good inventor.
A Box Computer
We saw a laptop in a box, but this is taking things to a whole new level. This person built an entire desktop computer in a cardboard box.
We can't say we recommend doing this, but it does look pretty cool. Now that we know that it's possible to make a computer in a cardboard box, we're wondering what else is possible. Can you make a TV in a Tupperware container? How about a phone in a Pop-Tart wrapper?
A Basketball Net
This uncle made a basketball net for his nephews using a piece of wood and the rim of a bucket.
It seems kind of basic, but remember that basketball was invented when a guy hung peach baskets on a wall. You really can't get much more basic than that. It turns out that all you need to have some fun outside is a well-inflated basketball and some kind of hoop to put it through.
A Lid With A Purpose
The lid of this Sierra tequila bottle comes in a fun sombrero shape. What an adorable addition.
You might think that this is just for show, but really, you can use the lid to help you give your shot glasses a salted rim. This might be the most brilliant alcohol packaging we've ever seen. I didn't know that I needed a little sombrero on top of all of my tequila bottles until this very moment.
A Superior Jar
This company bottles their pasta sauces in glass jars with embossed measurements down the side of them.
That way, people will be more inclined to save and reuse the jars. This is such a good idea! I would love to get a gorgeous glass measuring cup every time I bought a jar of tomato sauce. I haven't seen this brand at any stores near me, but If I did, I would buy it in a heartbeat.
Create The Soothing Shower Experience Of Your Dreams
You don't need to commit to a fancy bathroom renovation to get the soothing rain shower of your dreams. All you need is eucalyptus and a string.
The steam and scent will do the work for you. I had no idea that this was even possible. I wonder if it would work for other herbs. I would love to have a lavender shower or a peppermint shower. This is such a great idea, plus the eucalyptus looks so pretty!
Don't Be Shy, Take A Seat
Just because your roommate says that he's going to fix the couch cushion one of his friends broke does not mean that he's going to fix it in the same way that you would.
One seat is just not as comfortable as the rest. Sure, this works as a temporary solution, but I don't want a couch that looks like this to be in my living room forever. It just doesn't look all that classy.
A Distraction Laptop
Anyone who has a cat knows that they like to sit in the most inopportune places.
If your coworker is making working from home difficult, make a decoy laptop as this person did! How lucky is this cat to have her very own computer? Her owner must really like her to give her this kind of treatment. It's only a matter of time before she starts rubbing her face against the corner of the screen.
What If You Forget Both?
You know that you're going to leave your phone charger sitting in the outlet in the hotel room.
So hook other important things like your car keys through the cord, that way you have everything you need when you leave. There's no way that you can leave your car keys behind because you literally can't leave without your car keys. This is actually such a good idea (if you can remember to actually do it).
He'll Never Be Lost
Everyone knows someone who is terrible with directions and could use a little bit of help while trying to get where they're going.
This man, however, is not that person. He knows exactly where he's going at all times. I have a feeling that he has Pokemon Go going on each of those devices. This guy must be really dedicated to his game. I wonder if he's caught them all yet. It looks like he's well on his way.
Dry Your Boots In A Flash
Nobody likes to put on wet shoes.
This person was tired of getting trench foot day after day, so they took the initiative to come up with a speedy solution. I guess you have to have some spare PVC pipe in your house to be able to make this contraption, but if you do, I can think of no better way to dry your boots out quickly. This seems like it's the perfect quick fix.
No More Wasting Space
Why do we always feel the need to separate spoons into separate sections in the drawer?
All of this time we could've been doing it this way and saving the space. I think I'm going to organize all of my cutlery drawers like this now. It makes so much sense to put the smaller spoons opposite the big spoons. Maybe my cutlery drawers won't look like a total mess now that I have this information.
Prime Pregnancy Comfort
Getting comfortable while you're 9 months pregnant is not an easy task.
Whatever you have to do to find a comfortable position for lying down is up to you. This woman figured out how to maneuver a lawn chair so that she could just fit her stomach through the slats. It's not a perfect solution, but it will work until this baby makes an appearance in the outside world. I'm surprised that more people don't just resort to cutting stomach-sized holes in things.
The Superior Solution
Why spend your money on a newer, faster vehicle? This guy found an alternate solution.
You could take your old, beat-up Toyota Corolla, add some duck tape and some aerodynamic flaps, and increase your speed yourself? I have a feeling that a car that looks like this is not legal to drive. There's no way that the driver can see out of the back window. That just can't be a safe way to drive down the highway.
No Tears Here
There are all sorts of "hacks" about things you can do to not cry while chopping onions.
But when all of those fail, this woman has your fail-proof solution for the next time you're cooking dinner. All you need is an onion, a knife, and a welder's mask. Is this an extreme solution? Possibly. But sometimes you need to get extreme when onions are causing extreme tears. Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.
Thrilling Display
Sure, you could keep your knives stored in a regular stand.
But this one, which is made up of old copies of thriller novels, adds a little murderous fun to the kitchen. All you need to do is buckle a belt tightly around a stack of books and then slide your knives between the pages of the books. It's functional, fashionable, and funny. What more could you ask for out of a kitchen knife stand?
It Might Be Illegal, But It Works
There's no way that a person can legally replace their seats with dining chairs, but I don't see anything wrong with the other two modifications.
If your dial breaks off, why shouldn't a tap work? I mean, if it actually adjusts the fan speed, then I have to problem with it. Also, it looks kind of cool. Maybe we should have more variation available when it comes to choosing car dials. This guy knows where the future is headed.
This Is Terrifying
It's a problem that every parent eventually faces: their kids have outgrown their clothes and are no longer useful.
Most people would just donate the items, but this person decided demonic flowers were a better choice. Now it looks like this mom turned her kids into plants. Or maybe it looks like these plants have sprouted legs. Either way, there is something super eerie about this whole setup. I'm not sure that I'm on board for this one.
Who Has Time To Buy A New Clock?
Honestly, if you don't have the time (pun intended) or the funds to go out and buy a new clock.
This solution technically works and can be done in less than five minutes. Although, it does look pretty janky. You're better off just not having a clock at this point. Everyone has a clock on their phones which they carry around with them at all times. You might as well just take the broken clock down until you can get a new clock.
Off-Roading, But Make It Environmentally Friendly
Have you ever sat back and thought to yourself, "What would happen if I tried to make an off-roading vehicle out of one of the smallest, least sturdy electric cars?"
Yeah, me neither. I can't say that I endorse this idea, but hey, if it works then it works. It seems like we should at least give this concept a chance before we dismiss it entirely. Those tires look like they could take on some pretty rough terrain.
Everyday Can Be A Quest!
Shoutout to all my Dungeons and Dragons lovers! This one is for you.
This person, who has a strong passion for the game, decided to use a die from the game to repair a broken air cap on his tire. Sometimes you just have to work with what you have lying around the house. Sure, it's unconventional, but it's better than having a flat tire. Almost anything is better than having to deal with a flat tire.
This Cannot Be Stable
Some person on Reddit posted this "bedroom hack" as a way to save space in a bedroom.
Unfortunately, I don't think this structure could really hold up all that well if someone was going to use it as a bed. All it takes is putting your weight in the wrong place and then all of a sudden your bed is going to come crashing down. It's a good idea in theory, but not in practice.
Literally From Farm To Table
This organic, farm-to-table restaurant really leaned into the theme by making custom chairs out of rakes, shovels, and wooden handles for their guests.
Their tables are even ingeniously held up by rakes. I think these chairs look super cool, I just don't think that they can be very comfortable. Who wants to sit on a shovel while they eat lunch? At least put a cushion on the chairs or something. You could even use a burlap cushion to keep with the farm theme.
This Seems Oddly Cozy
Honestly, I can't decide if I hate this design or if I think that it's kind of brilliant.
I mean, I think I would actually enjoy sitting in this egg-chair and pooping. However, it does feel like some kind of '70s alien creation. I feel like I would be scared of getting alien probed while sitting in a giant egg. If someone offered this to me for free I would probably take it, but I don't think I would pay money for it.
He's Always Watching
When one of the panels on the side of her tub fell out of place, this woman only saw one clear solution on how to replace it.
It's terrifying, but also hilarious. I guess a picture of Nicolas Cage is the perfect solution to any problem. I can't say that it's the preferred solution, but it is a solution nonetheless. Sometimes you just need to inject a bit of humor into your life, and this is a good way to do that.
