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DIY oversized growth chart ruler


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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."

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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