DIY oversized growth chart ruler

I did it! I think this was one of the first ideas that was pinned from Pinterest that I actually executed. The girls have been growing so fast and I felt like each day that went by I was missing the opportunity to capture those memories. So off to Home Depot I went!

This is a photo of my final product:

And here is the original inspiration photo that I saw on Pinterest. Different versions of this are all over the internet these days. I believe this idea was originally done and sold by Pottery Barn, then all of the DIYers (like myself) decided, "Hey, we can make this for WAY cheaper."

Source: barefootinthekitchen.blogspot.com via Mary - on Pinterest

If you know me, you know that I'm not one for following directions well. I like to find shortcuts at every turn and I often get myself in trouble because of it. In my defense, I also find some terrific shortcuts! All that to say, I haven't read any of the other tutorials out there. I bet they are fantastic and way better than mine. I can imagine it's been done with paint and probably even cut out laminate pieces. I'm too impatient and I just looked at the photo and went for it.

So I started by purchasing a piece of wood from Home Depot. You may not know it, but they sell pre-cut and pre-finished wood pieces in various sizes. I didn't know that until just recently. I picked up a piece of pine wood 6' tall and 9" wide.

I wasn't about to try and paint the letter detailing with a brush because, quite frankly, I don't trust myself to paint that well without a stencil. And I was too impatient to run out and get a number stencil, so I decided to freehand with pencil first using a small scale ruler as my guide for the font. Then, I used a Sharpie over the pencil for the permanent markings. It worked extremely well. I was concerned that the Sharpie would bleed, but as it turns out I didn't have any trouble with that at all.

I then coated the entire board with Minwax Bombay Mahogany wood stain, let it dry, then finished it off with a light coat of Annie Sloan soft wax. I used wax rather than polyurethane because I didn't want to deal with the smell and I just love the finish of soft wax. It's easy to use and provides a nice, smooth texture without being too shiny.

I'm more than pleased with the results! This is now such a treasured piece in the home. I look at it daily and imagine all the markings that we get to imprint over the years as our children grow.

After purchasing and trying out several pens, I finally found one that would write over the nice wax finish. Again, good ol' Sharpie -- I found out that they make a paint pen! Worked like a charm. :)

By far, this is one of my favorite projects to date!


Lots of love,
Mary



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