Is it worth printing things for the home instead of buying them?

For some things, yes; for others, no. A dish rack is cheaper and better made if you just buy it, but a custom organizer for your exact bottles, or a part that doesn't exist in any store, you only get by printing it. I see it as solving small problems you've put up with for years, not as saving money.

PLA or PETG for bathroom and kitchen parts?

For parts that live around moisture —dish racks, shower holders, anything that gets wet— I prefer PETG because it handles water and light better and is tougher. PLA is perfect for everything dry: organizers, remote holders, bins. In this video I printed the dish rack in PETG (my first time) and the rest in PLA.

Why did my first shower organizer warp?

Because I designed it with no top or bottom layer, just infill. That unsupported wall bent under its own weight and ended up resting on the floor. Lesson learned: if a wall has to bear load, it needs real perimeters, not just infill.

Do I need an expensive printer to do this?

No. Everything in this video was printed on a Bambu Lab A1 with regular PLA and PETG. Any modern self-calibrating printer gives you parts good enough for the home. What matters most isn't the machine, but picking the right model and orienting it well.

Projects

Easy 3D printing ideas for your home (a week fixing my flat)

I spent a whole week using my 3D printer to stop putting up with the little home problems I'd been ignoring for years: the mess of bottles in the shower, plates drying against the wall, nowhere to sit to take off my running shoes… Some things came out on the first try, others I had to eat (the first shower organizer was a disaster). Here's what I printed, what I learned, and every model I used.

Watch the video on YouTube ↗

The idea: don't get used to living badly

There are things we never fix simply because they don't annoy us enough to change our routine and buy something. But if instead of buying it's about printing, things get more interesting. So I set myself a seven-day challenge: each day, one real home problem solved with 3D printing. Some designed by me, others pulled from MakerWorld. Honestly, not all of them were serious problems —some are silly— but when I need them again, I'll be glad I made them.

The bathroom organizer (and the first failed attempt)

The bathroom was chaos: a pile of bottles with no order. I measured and noticed many sit around 5 cm, so I designed a modular grid with slots of several sizes (one 10×10, two 5×10, several 5×5 and some smaller ones) to fit as many bottles as possible. In Bambu Studio I added a texture to hide the print lines, and it works: now nothing moves, and to grab something I just pull the piece out.

Before that, on day one I tried a shower organizer for the shampoos and it came out garbage, literally. I designed it with no top or bottom layer, just infill, so the wall bent and ended up resting on the floor. I didn't upload it to my profile because it's not worth sharing something that doesn't print decently. Lesson: if a wall bears weight, it needs real perimeters.

By the way, the grid took 4 h 37 min and ate 200 g of white filament… which was painfully tight. It finished with literally two layers to spare. Not a way of life I'd recommend.

The dish rack: my first time with PETG

For two years I'd been leaving plates to dry on a towel against the wall, not breaking a single one by sheer luck. I started designing a rack, but found one on MakerWorld that was far better and modular, so I downloaded it. The catch: the creator designed it for matte PLA, but I printed it in PETG for the moisture and to make it last longer. It was my first time with PETG.

The responsible thing would have been a temperature test first. Being impatient, I used the part itself as the test: I printed the sticks first. The base got a bit of warping, but the sticks came out spectacular. The key was making my own PETG profile and, above all, dropping the speed a lot.

Apple Watch charging dock

I don't own an Apple Watch, but my girlfriend does, and the loose cable that falls off every five minutes is a classic annoyance. A dock that holds it on the nightstand prints in about an hour. I made it in orange because I'd run out of white, but it doesn't look bad at all.

The folding stool (13 hours of printing)

When I come back from running I need to sit down to take off my shoes, and dragging a chair from the living room takes up too much space. The fix: a mecha-style folding stool that tucks away to nothing and is pretty cute. That said, printing all the parts took 13 hours —first time I ran the printer all day— and then you have to assemble it. Some of the fit joints didn't come out perfect, but it ended up useful and compact, which is exactly what I needed.

Modular shoe organizer

Since I started running I've got way too many shoes. I printed a stackable, modular organizer: you can build towers of several levels and connect them together. I made a three-level tower for the video. Heads up: fitting the pieces together is a real fight, but once it's assembled it works great.

Desk bin (work in progress)

I had nowhere to throw paper or filament purges at my desk, so I designed a bin that clamps to the edge of the desk with a sliding tray. Useful, but honestly not fully thought through: it sits a bit loose because the load point is further forward than the support and the part is thin. I've left better alternatives in the list below.

Extras day: timelapses, hangers and more

On the last day I knocked out several quick ideas. I broke in the timelapse kit (a Bluetooth shutter that connects to the printer; I also printed a case for it) and the timelapses look much better than before. I also printed a print-in-place folding clothes hanger for my girlfriend, a soft flask dryer for my running bottles (they always fall over and keep water inside), the sofa remote clip I redesigned with more wall loops so it grips firmly, the tape dispenser that clips onto the roll so you don't lose it, and the classic toothpaste tube squeezer.

The models I used (all free)

Some I designed myself and others I pulled from MakerWorld. Here they are sorted by category:

Bathroom

Home

Kitchen and others

For the timelapses, here's my quick tutorial on how I make them.

Some product links may be affiliate links: if you buy through them I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. You can check my Amazon deals and the AliExpress new-user deals.

FAQ

Is it worth printing things for the home instead of buying them?: For some things, yes; for others, no. A dish rack is cheaper and better made if you just buy it, but a custom organizer for your exact bottles, or a part that doesn't exist in any store, you only get by printing it. I see it as solving small problems you've put up with for years, not as saving money.
PLA or PETG for bathroom and kitchen parts?: For parts that live around moisture —dish racks, shower holders, anything that gets wet— I prefer PETG because it handles water and light better and is tougher. PLA is perfect for everything dry: organizers, remote holders, bins. In this video I printed the dish rack in PETG (my first time) and the rest in PLA.
Why did my first shower organizer warp?: Because I designed it with no top or bottom layer, just infill. That unsupported wall bent under its own weight and ended up resting on the floor. Lesson learned: if a wall has to bear load, it needs real perimeters, not just infill.
Do I need an expensive printer to do this?: No. Everything in this video was printed on a Bambu Lab A1 with regular PLA and PETG. Any modern self-calibrating printer gives you parts good enough for the home. What matters most isn't the machine, but picking the right model and orienting it well.

Got the itch? I've got more things I've built in Projects, and if you don't have a machine yet, take a look at the printers. All my designs are free on my MakerWorld profile.