<\/p>\n
Gigi Bello is a content creator primarily known for baking with her beloved sourdough starter, Eloise<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
However, in October 2025, the 28-year-old accountant living alone in Brooklyn, N.Y., took it upon herself to fix the covered peephole in her front door<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
Never did she expect the DIY series to go viral and rack up millions of views<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
After two and a half years in her Brooklyn, N.Y., apartment, Gigi Bello had come to terms with what she jokingly called her \u201clandlord special\u201d front door \u2013 featuring a useless peephole that had long been painted shut.<\/p>\n
Recently, however, the situation took a serious turn when the 28-year-old accountant living alone was surprised, on more than one occasion, by police officers standing at her door, searching for someone else.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy apartment number is really similar to another unit in my building, so they always get confused,\u201d Bello tells PEOPLE exclusively. \u201cNot being able to see who was out there before opening the door didn\u2019t exactly make me feel safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Apart from safety, Bello was also generally curious about what was hiding underneath all those layers of white paint, so she took it upon herself to find out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m the type of person who never likes to ask for help \u2013 which usually gets me in trouble,\u201d the content creator admits, recalling the time she became a plumber for the day and ended up breaking her drain.<\/p>\n
Another instance was when she attempted to install her own AC unit \u2013 a project that resulted in a missing grounding wire.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just love learning how things work and fixing stuff myself, and my overly confident mind always convinces me I can do it,\u201d Bello shares.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that comes from growing up with an Italian dad and tagging along on his side jobs, laying brick and tile. It made me realize this kind of stuff isn\u2019t as intimidating as it looks \u2013 it\u2019s actually weirdly therapeutic.\u201d<\/p>\n
The hardest part, she admits, was trying not to destroy the door in the process \u2014 unlike her ill-fated drain.\u00a0However, things got a lot messier before they got better.<\/p>\n
After tackling the layers of paint that had essentially been glued onto the doorbell, Bello quickly discovered that the peephole wouldn\u2019t budge<\/a> no matter how hard she pulled.<\/p>\n As a result, she dismantled the entire doorbell and re-engineered the mechanism from the inside \u2013 using a hair scrunchie, of all things \u2013 to make it open and close properly.<\/p>\n That little victory was short-lived, though, when Bello realized the actual doorbell didn\u2019t work properly and, in an attempt to appease viewers, she experimented with it until a dull chime turned into a sharp ding<\/a>.<\/p>\n Midway through her triumph, a commenter also pointed out that the black mold she\u2019d discovered inside the peephole \u201clooked like asbestos,\u201d<\/a> sending her into a brief panic that thankfully turned out to be nothing serious.<\/p>\n \u201cLive-posting every step and getting constructive criticism from people watching helped a ton too \u2013 some of the comments actually guided me in real time,\u201d Bello reveals. \u201cThe most surprising part was just how satisfying it all was, like solving a puzzle that\u2019s been bugging you for years.\u201d<\/p>\n What began as one of her \u201cclassic ADHD projects,\u201d sparked by curiosity and a simple desire to feel safer, quickly evolved into an online series that some commenters said rivaled anything streaming on HBO and Netflix.<\/p>\n \u201cI figured maybe a few people would relate to dealing with \u2018landlord specials,\u2019 but I didn\u2019t think the internet would get this deep into my peephole journey,\u201d Bello admits.<\/p>\n Little did she know, each of her 10 videos about the DIY project would attract millions of views \u2014 with her second installment soaring past 17 million.<\/p>\n \u201cIt turned into this mini saga that everyone followed along with, which made it even more fun,\u201d Bello tells PEOPLE. \u201cI really think when you\u2019re genuinely passionate about something \u2013 even if it\u2019s as random as a painted-over peephole \u2013 people can feel that energy. It makes them excited, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for\u00a0PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a>\u00a0to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/strong><\/p>\n Now that the peephole has been fixed and she\u2019s restored it with a perfect golden stain<\/a> \u2014 an equally captivating part of the project \u2014 Bello says she\u2019s learned a lot about herself along the way.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m more capable than I give myself credit for. I joke that these are my ADHD projects, but they really do teach me patience and problem-solving,\u201d she tells PEOPLE.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s cool to realize you can take something apart, figure it out, and put it back together \u2013 and now I\u2019ve got a working peephole to show for it.\u201d<\/p>\n Read the original article on People<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n