Before and After: This DIY Bedroom Redo Didn’t Cost Anything—it MADE $60

Small bedrooms done right can feel super warm, cozy, and inviting. But done wrong—like with the wrong-sized furniture—and they can start to get downright cramped. That’s exactly what Samantha Wiebe and her husband Kevin found in their mobile home’s master bedroom, where the bed frame they already had made things feel just a bit tight.

“Our old bed frame was creaky, too big, and not the style we want,” says Samantha. Plus, the arched sleigh-style headboard was wasting precious space! The couple knew they could do better. Thankfully, the solution came at a cost of zero dollars: Kevin, who works at a plumbing company, was able to score free pallets from his office, and the couple handily put them to use.

Samantha and Kevin worked evenings and weekends to get the project in place, borrowing a nail gun from a friend to make quicker work of it. “We originally planned to line the boards up in horizontal lines but because the wood is aged, it wasn’t perfectly straight,” says Samantha. “My husband decided to make it more pieced together, like a puzzle.”

With the cool weathered look of the boards, the effect is equal parts funky and rustic. Above the bed, they added a shelf for decor; on either side, there’s a built-in vanity to hold books and other essentials. Oh, and the old bed? Samantha and Kevin sold it on an app for a profit of $60. Now, their mattress is perched on (free!) pallets, which Samantha prefers. “They’re the perfect height!” she says. How’s that for a budget DIY win?

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