3 Crafty Ways to Save from the Best DIY Bloggers We've Ever Met

1. Window Seats and Wardrobes

Masterminds:Jennifer Flores, who comes up with designs that her husband, Sean Stanwick, executes for their 1950s home, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They chronicle the results atramblingrenovators.blogspot.com.
Inspiration:"I always wanted a window seat when I was a girl, and I imagined sitting on one with our daughter in her nursery, " says Jennifer. "The room also had no closets, so we needed to add storage."
How They Did It:Rather than frame out closets alongside the seat, Jennifer and Sean bought two wardrobe units from IKEA. "We like ready-made things that we can customize," says Jennifer. For the seat, which hides an under-window radiator, they used¾-inch medium-density fiberboard (MDF) and perforated wood panels that allow heat to pass through. A cushion on top turns it into a comfy perch. To make it all look like one big built-in, the couple painted the seat, the wardrobes, and a new ceiling-height shelf in the same creamy white.
What it cost:$500 for the wardrobes, a 4-by-8-foot sheet of MDF, a 4-by-3-foot sheet of perforated wood, a custom cushion, shelf boards, paint, glue, and caulk

RELATED:How to Build a Window Seat With Stock Cabinets

2. Shipping-Pallet Headboard

Masterminds:Dustin and Whitney Barrington, who bought a tumbledown house in San Diego, California, and taught themselves how to fix it up. They show off their work attheroosterandthehen.com.
Inspiration:"We wanted a floor-to-ceiling headboard to give our bedroom a loftier feel," says Dustin, "and we loved the idea of making it out of rustic and worn-looking wood from shipping pallets."
How They Did It:By putting in about 5 hours of actual work and 10 hours of stealth-hunting for the 15 pallets required to make the headboard. Before nailing the pallet boards to their bedroom wall, Whitney and Dustin whitewashed them with a mix of latex and water. The new finish highlights the wood's grain pattern and knots, and gives the disparate pieces a unified look.See the 3-step how to here.
What It Cost:$3.50 for nails; the pallets were free, and the paint was left over from another project

RELATED:How to Obtain, Prep, and Use Wood Pallets

3. Wall-Mounted Drying Rack

Mastermind:Kate Riley, an attorney who left her practice to fix up her home in California's wine country and details the transformation atcentsationalgirl.com.
inspiration:"I wanted a dedicated area in my laundry room to drip-dry delicates. When I spotted a pricey drop-down rack in a catalog, I thought,I could make that, and it would be better and cheaper!"
How She Did It:Kate sketched a design to suit her needs, making the rack smaller than the one she'd seen and adding knobs at the bottom for hangers. She spray-painted the plywood back a watery blue-green for a hit of color against her white walls.
What It Cost:$25 for wood, knobs, and hardware; the paint was left over from another project

SEE ALL:Home Bloggers' Crafty Ways to Save