DIY Growth Chart

For quite some time I've been wanting to make a growth chart for E & I'm happy to say it's now complete! I knew I wanted to track her height as she grows but I just wasn't sure how. I liked the idea of having a growth wall or door in our home. I've seen people do this & think it can be done in some really cute, non-tacky, ways. But for us it wasn't exactly realistic since we know we have the potential of moving (and have moved) a few times in our life. So tracking it right on a door or on a special wall in part of our house wasn't ideal because we wouldn't be able to bring it with us if/when we do move. 

However, I did love the idea of creating a giant wooden ruler of sorts. So a couple of weeks ago I went and rounded up my supplies. I'm happy to say this project was relatively easy to make. It's not perfect, but overall I really do love how it turned out! 

We'll eventually hang it on the wall, so as you can see we'll have to hang it 6 inches from the floor for it to be accurate. All you need for this project: a piece of wood (mine measured 9 1/4 inches -width & 6 ft -length & is pine -- It was pre-cut at the hardware store & worked for me!), stain (in a colour of your choosing), paint for the lines & numbers, a stencil, and a measuring tape.

Here's what I did:

- To start you need to stain your board. The piece was already smooth and I didn't need to do any prepping to get started (I'm a staining newbie & I had never stained anything before; so I asked a guy at the store if I need to do anything in order to stain it and he said it was good to go). I used an espresso colour. I only did one coat, but depending on the colour you choose you may want to do more than one. It's really up to you!

- Wait for a few days for your stain to dry. I waited about a week, because a week later is when I had the free time to finish up the project ;)

- When it's fully dry, measure out your ruler spaces. I plunked my measuring tape down on the board and every inch made a little mark with a pencil. I then went back and decided on the length I wanted each line to be and then made the full mark. I highly recommend an L Square ruler when you do this. It would make your life a little easier. I did not have one, and wish I had. To be honest, I couldn't even find a regular ruler in our house (the joys of moving!) so I used two different size pieces of my daughter's mega blocks. For real. 

- Next, dig out the stencil and paint on the numbers. I used Martha Stewart craft paint in the colour "Putty". Once the numbers were on I went over the ruler lines with the paint. You can see the lines aren't perfectly straight. I just went over the pencil lines free hand and in the end I probably should have used one of my mega blocks to guide me. Next time! You really can't tell from far away that the lines are a bit crooked, only if you look close. I guess it gives it some character, haha!

I had thought about personalizing it for E, but then decided that if any other littles come along in the future we'll obviously want to track their height as well. Plus, the growth chart could end up on the wall of the living room, in a hall, or wherever. This way it's a little more flexible to move around the house if need be. I kind of like the idea of using it as part of our decor somewhere in the house (other than just E's room). 

I still have to find a marker of some kind to start marking her height. I'm thinking a sharpie might work and I know you can get them in various colours. I'm hoping to find something that will be somewhat subtle but, at the same time, noticeable too. 

And that's E's growth chart. Time to start tracking her height!

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