Our friends joke that we might as well be military the way we move. Thankfully, as of right now, it looks like we'll stay put for a while. But just in case a move does come, I wanted a growth chart that I could take with us.
My inspirations came from these two sites: One to buy and one to make. (This time I remembered to take pictures as I went.)
You need a 1"x6"x6' piece of wood. I'll recommend going ahead and buying the piece of wood that is in the shelving area of your home improvement store. Those pieces tend to be straighter and have less blemishes.
I painted mine white using left over white satin finish paint that I had in the garage. I also used a tape measure, a yard stick, brown paint, a small paint brush, a triangle & a pencil.
I decided that I wanted the top of my board to be the same height as the door frames. I think it was 83", give or take. I used the tape measure to find the height of the board and the foot increments. I then used the yard stick to mark the inches, making a mark on the side of the board for the foot increments. I used pencil so I could go back & erase my marks on the side.
I had triangles left over from my drafting days. I used tape to mark the end of 1" and 2" to keep my increment lines the same length. I used the 1" for the inches and the 2" for the feet. I would recommend wiping off the triangle, or whatever edge you use, once every 12" or so to not smear paint. Thankfully the brown paint I used wiped off the satin finish with a baby wipe pretty easily.
I then just free handed the numbers for the foot markers. I kept them to about 2" tall. If you wanted to be really fancy you could use a template. I didn't. Too much work.
I decided to hang mine in the bathroom. The floor is hard and I don't plan on replacing the tile any time soon. The board hangs behind the door and isn't visible all the time. I drilled a hole in the top about 2" in down from the top of the board, found a stud in the wall, and used a wood screw to hold it in place. I then realized that it swayed a bit at the bottom, so I used another wood screw towards the bottom. (Yes, now I will have two more holes to patch, but hopefully not for a while.)
A couple of things I may do differently if I had to do another one of these. First, I would use a paint pen to keep the line thickness more even. I do not have a steady hand and my inch marks prove that well. Secondly, but not really that big of a deal, I'd remember to drill the holes for the screws before I painted. Third, I wouldn't do this while the kids were being quiet, a little too quiet. I found them locked in one of their rooms with the telescope trying to watch a meteor shower. I also learned that my husband is getting either a new drill or a new battery for his current drill for Father's Day, or sooner depending on which project I decide to do next.
Yes, the numbers go high and I don't really think my kids will be that tall, but my little brother is over 6 feet so you never know!
No comments:
Post a Comment