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Probably one of the key issues when you're trying to MacGyver your lighting setup is color temperatures. When you use multiple lights, you will need to make sure they are close in color temperature.

As far as diffusers, you will also need to make sure they are consistent because inconsistent translucent materials will also result in uncertain lighting.

I have no idea what your knowledge is of electronics, so I'm not sure if you're going to make your own strobes or just stick with continuous lighting. If continuous, you'll have to worry about heat. Continuous lighting will run hot, unless you are able to with LEDs.

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I am fairly familiar with electronics...built computers and a few other things, but never lights. I can follow instructions fairly well (unless you listen to my wife )

What do you mean color temperature? I think i understand, but it's better to ask and know.

I was planning on using all LED's for strobes and constant lighting.

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What do you mean color temperature? I think i understand, but it's better to ask and know.

I was planning on using all LED's for strobes and constant lighting.

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Definitely document your LED strobe when you get it built. I'm curious to see what kind of wattsecond equivalent/rating you can achieve.

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Color temperature is based on black body radiation, where the black body emits visible wavelengths as its temperature increases.  This is measured in degrees Kelvin.  The range is very broad from deep reds at a few hundred degrees K to pale blue at 10,000ºK+  The way this color temperature affects the overall color of your photographs depends on a few things.

If her camera uses film, color film is generally balanced to 5,500ºK, so when you shoot outdoors the colors appear natural ... white is white, etc.  Artificial lighting will add color casts (tungsten lamps appear yellowish, flourescent lamps cast a greenish light) which are usually corrected by the use of color filters on the camera.

Digital cameras make this a lot easier to deal with, because you can manually set your color balance or choose from a multitude of pre-sets, where the temperature in degrees Kelvin will determine your white point.

For example, if your balance is set at 3,200ºK (indoor color balance) then light with a color temperature of 3,200ºK will appear white, or very close to it, and lights with a color temperature of 5,500ºK will appear bluish (called cooler in color, even though it's higher in temperature) while lights with a color temperature of say 2,000ºK will appear orange (called warmer in color, even though it's lower in temperature).

If your color balance is set to 5,500ºK (outdoor/daylight), your digital camera will now emulate color film and your 5,500ºK light source now appears white, or very close to it, and the 3,200ºK light source now appears as a pale orange/yellow.

This is something I threw together a while back.  I find that it helps to see the relationship of color temperature and how it can change based on your color balance (white point).  You can ignore the RGB values, those are simply to give me a starting reference point when lighting objects in my 3D software;

http://home.comcast.net/~demordrah/LightWave/Graphical_Representation_of_Kelvin_small.jpg

I hope this helps.