Pinterest Challenge: Vintage growth chart

Posted on February 27, 2013 by

3 Comments

It’s Pinterest Challenge time again! That special time when the blogosphere steps back, examines our (many many) pins, and decides to bring a few of them to life. 
(Here’s what I did in the summer challenge).
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Updated on Dec. 27, 2014: Thanks for the great response to my growth chart! I wrote about this project in “My Handmade Home,” in the Chronicle Herald, so you can check out the full column here. It’s less wordy than the blog post! 🙂 

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I knew I wanted to create a giant ruler growth chart, like this one I’d pinned from Adventures in Decorating and Design.

I bought an eight-foot board at our local home improvement store, had Darling Husband chop off about a foot (so it would fit in a specific spot in our basement), and got to work staining it a beautiful deep red.
Then the real fun began!
Sharing the staining love on Instagram
Then I measured off (and marked) one-inch increments along the board. I knew I would be hanging it six inches off the ground, so the one-foot mark is only six inches from the bottom.
I printed out some pretty numbers using this great font from DaFont.com
I placed the numbers along the board, so each one lined up with their “foot” mark (and yes, I recognize the weirdness of a Canadian girl making something with inches and feet, not centimeters — but who announces their height in friggin’ centimeters? NOT EVEN CANADIANS, that’s who!)

Then I traced those suckas with a pencil!

One coat of white paint later, and things were starting to look real!

When I did the second coat, I also painted over my pencil measurements. It’s a real ruler now, folks!

I *liked* the white numbers, but it looked a little told bold, and I wanted the kids’ measurements to be the real stars of the show. So I used some of the original stain to distress the numbers a bit …

I sort of swiped the edges of the numbers, and smeared it around until I got a good “old” look. When I used too much stain, I used more white paint to highlight some of the areas again, until I liked the look …

Vintage-y goodness

Here’s a side-by-side of the original pin (thanks, J. Baxter!) and my version
I don’t have it hung up yet (Darling Husband’s been working) but it will be mounted to the wall six inches above the floor. Then we can start measuring the kids and charting their growth (probably using a pain pen). I can’t wait!

Thanks for stopping by to check out my Pinterest Challenge project, and thanks to Sherry, Katie, Michelle, and Megan for hosting!

xoxo

Category: Craftiness, Decor, DIY, Home, Pinterest

3 Comments on “Pinterest Challenge: Vintage growth chart”

  1. I really want to do this, but I keep putting it off thinking that I am not very good with measurements and straight lines and it will be all wonky. Maybe I should put the engineer Mr. B on it 🙂

    Yours is fabulous! Thanks for the inspiration to do this myself. Errr, make Mr. B do it for me.

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  3. This looks awesome 😉 The kiddos will love it and it will be fun to see their growth! It sounds like a perfect thing for Thad to work on 😉

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I’m Heather Laura Clarke. I’m a writer living in beautiful Nova Scotia, I have a 13-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter, I married my high school sweetheart, and this is the story of my handmade life.

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