DIY home improvement gurus on TikTok and YouTube are the new HGTV designers.

DIY home improvement gurus on TikTok and YouTube are the new HGTV designers. A crop of DIY home reno influencers are building massive followings on TikTok and YouTube for their low-budget home improvement projects, showing viewers and fellow interior design enthusiasts that just about anyone can transform a space from drab to fab with the help of a few tools. Emily Shaw is a 23-year-old DIY home influencer who has built a following of over 5M followers for her videos documenting around the house improvement projects and most recently, a series where she transforms her parents’ living room, dining room, kitchen, patio, and family room for just $1,000; Lone Fox is a YouTube channel counting more than 1M followers where guru Drew Scott (26-years-old) gives renter-friendly improvement ideas, whether it’s refurbishing old furniture or updating bathroom tile; and Kelsey MacDermaid (29-years-old) and Becky Wright (30-years-old) started The Sorry Girls YouTube channel when they were college students in Toronto as a place for students to get inspiration for sprucing up their dorm rooms—now, they have a 10-person staff and still focus on affordable décor while reviving drab living spaces. YPulse’s Self-Taught trend research shows 37% of Gen Z and 47% of Millennials have researched a DIY / how to project to learn about in their free time, and online videos (like on TikTok and YouTube) are one of the first places they turn to for help. (NYT)