DIY Wood Growth Chart

For a long time now I have wanted a growth chart for the kiddos. I don’t know how long we will live in our current house so it will be nice to have something that can go with us instead of just marking their heights on a wall. I first fell in love with the idea of making a wood one as I was reading this awesome house crashing post on Young House Love. It was just what I wanted so I did what any intelligent, blog-loveer would do…I pinned it. 😉

That was back in November and have since read the post about how to do it around a dozen times. Yeah, things don’t seem to get finished very quickly around these parts anymore. It drives me craaaaazy but I am also so thankful that my life is full.

Anywhoo, I started really planning the project a few months ago, bought the supplies and have slowly but steadily been working on it a little bit at a time. It’s nothing too difficult…just a piece of stained wood and some painted numbers. But those are all things that I don’t do very often {actually it was my first time staining & sanding}. Let’s just be real–the sanding step alone took me an entire nap time. So silly, I know! I don’t ever think I will be a DIY blogger when I grow up. 😉

Speaking of awesome, DIY bloggers… I decided to join these lovely ladies (Sherry, Katie, Emily and Renee) who are hosting the Spring Pintrest Challenge. It actually gave me some much needed motivation to finish the project and write this post {as my laundry piles continue to reproduce like bunnies}.

I love how it turned out and may have even stroked it a couple times as I have walked by.

All I did was:

1.) Buy a 1x6x9 piece of wood at Lowes

2.) Sand the wood {with my new sander!} using 80 and then 120 grit sandpaper.

3.) Give it one coat of stain {using Minwax’s Walnut }

4.) Let it dry a few days

5.) Make some stencils for the numbers

6.) Paint the numbers on with acrylic black paint

7.) Apply three coats of water-based poly

8.) Hang it on the wall with some heavy duty screws.

9.) Measure your kiddo(s), of course!

It was actually really easy! I can say that now, of course, thanks to the handful of Home Depot and Lowes employees who helped me with each step. But really, if you are thinking about doing your own, JUST DO IT! And if you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask me.

Here is my finished product next to the inspiration:

I think they are both very lovely.

Now you may have noticed that I am not bragging about how cheap it was to make. Ahem. Well, I am sure it would have been more affordable if I hadn’t had to buy everything {the wood, stain, poly, sandpaper, paint, and screws}. I actually don’t even know the total price because I am choosing to live in denial on this one. It may be a bit dysfunctional of me but sometimes growth-chart-love is blind.