The 4 viral TikTok DIY hacks you should avoid, according to an interiors expert

It’s important to remember, however, that a lot of content creators using TikTok aren’t professional - no matter how good their houses look.

Here, paint and interiors expert, Anjelica Delfino from Valspar Paint debunks some of the most popular home DIY TikTok hacks, and how to really resolve these popular issues, so that you can avoid any decorating diasters.

Tanning mitt or a sock to paint stair bannister

With 1.4 million views on TikTok, this hack by @housing.info shows the creator using a tanning mitt to get a smoother paint finish, claiming it takes ‘a quarter of the time’. Using proper painting equipment is essential for painting trickier surfaces like bannisters, the likely reason why you’ve been struggling beforehand is not using different size brushes for different services.

This will always be more effective than something like a tanning mitt or a sock. The issue with using these other materials as well is that you’ll also have to buy a new mitt each time you go to paint, leading to more waste and more money.

Toothpaste to remove stains

Removing stains from furniture is an age-old problem, and you have to be really careful about what you use on these kinds of surfaces to avoid damaging the surface or the paint, which is why it’s not recommended to use toothpaste. For most marks, all you need is a soft sponge and warm soapy water.

For the majority of paints, you need to use a soft sponge and not anything particularly abrasive, like toothpaste. Valspar Paints are extra scrubbable and can handle a scouring pad, so if you’ve got some particularly stubborn marks you don’t have to worry about damaging the paint.

Paper patchwork wall repair

This video, posted by @decoratorsforumuk, has more than 21 million views and suggests to followers that they should cover any hole in a wall of their house with a piece of paper and then paint over it. It’s not recommended for a number of reasons but most importantly it doesn’t fix the hole in the wall. Not long after the piece of paper is painted over, the wet paint will seep through the paper revealing the hole once again. If the paint doesn’t seep through, bubbles of air would appear where the piece of paper is, since there’s air behind the wall.

Painting worktops

New kitchens can be expensive, so you may have seen content creators talking about painting theirs instead of replacing it. However, using paint where food is being prepped – and where water is around – can create a haven for bacteria. A lot of worktops are made from laminate, meaning that the paint won’t bond to the surface as it is designed to be impervious. Minor bumps will cause chips that bacteria can get into, right where you’re prepping food.

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