Garden Gate Headboard

How do you create the perfect bed for a kid whose passion is playing with bugs in the garden? Hallie and Bruce Lowe of Richmond, Virginia, decided to make a fanciful fence headboard for their then 3-year-old daughter, Reilly. Using wooden pickets from the hardware store (under $2 apiece) and 1- by 2-inch boards for horizontal braces, they assembled the headboard in an afternoon for under $15. (If loose pickets aren't available, you could also cut a length of fencing to size.) Finishing touches: paint the headboard white, secure it to the wall, and add a string of dragonfly lights. At the ripe old age of 8, Reilly's still buggy about it.