DIY Growth Chart

I decided to tackle a project I’ve been thinking about for a while this week….a growth chart.  I’ve always thought they were such a sweet tradition…and it made me sad that so many people had to leave them in the house they grew up in because they just marked on the wall.  So I wanted mine to be moveable…and re-moveable.

I actually found some scrap pieces of wood when we were cleaning out the garage the other day and thought they’d be a good fit for this project…but you can also just buy a piece at Lowe’s and have them cut to an appropriate size.

Next, I taped off a chevron pattern over the whole length of the wood.  I didn’t measure out the spaces between the patterns…but you definitely can if you want it to look perfect.  Then I painted every other space navy blue…let that dry (not all the way) and then peeled off the tape.  After that, I painted the blank spaces white.

Now…what you could do here so you don’t need to be careful keeping your paint brush in the lines on the second color of paint…is just spray paint the whole thing the base color and let that dry and then tape off your chevron pattern and paint the second color.  The reason this didn’t work out for me…is because my blue paint was so thick, I thought the white spray paint looked funny.  So just play around and see what works for you.

Let this all dry overnight, then use a yardstick to measure and mark every inch the whole way up the wood.  Just make a small mark in pencil at each inch.  I used my navy and my white paint to emphasize the marks…by using the opposite color on whatever chevron color I ended up on.  For the numbers to mark the feet – I found a font I liked online and printed it large enough for my wood.  Then I traced each number using my carbon paper and painted in the lines.  You could also make this easier on yourself and buy a stencil…but I like to be thrifty whenever possible.  I also have a pretty steady hand, so hand painting doesn’t bother me.  Oh, and also, I didn’t really like the stencil selection I found at the Hob Lob last time.

I’m going to keep playing with this…I’ve still got to figure out how to mark the child’s height….and I think it may need some color.  But I’ve got time….Shane and I are having our first baby in October…so it will be a while before he/she needs to be measured.:)