Growth Chart Ruler

When my hubby and I were looking at homes a few years back I remember walking into a home and felt like I was walking into a pottery barn catalog.  Everything was coordinated and organized in cute baskets and bins.  It was fun to look at but probably the reason they were staring at foreclosing.  When I saw the growth chart ruler at pottery barn I knew that I could never afford it and that I could make it.  So I did clipped it from a catalog and put it in my dream binder--you know the things you did before pinterest.

My father-in-law always says it is easier to make more of one project at the same time.  Processes turn into assembly lines and when you make a mess you usually only have to clean it up once.  So I convinced the hubby once again to help me with this project.  It ended up being a Christmas present for one of his brothers.  I did a few things differently than others in blogdom.  

 First I started my 1 foot mark as the first mark-so this mark is 2 inches long.  The smaller marks are 1 inch long.  My hubby is 6'5" and I am 5'10"  we have tall kids, and I didn't want to run out of room at the top.

This growth chart goes to 6'11"--if my kids go past that then they are going to be giants.  I had the hubs stain it, and I painted the lines and the numbers by hand.  The lines aren't perfectly straight-but you don't notice until you are really close.  I also flipped the numbers so they are not horizontal, this was just a personal preference.  We used a pine board, I think it cost around $6.  If I remember correctly, my hubby used a mixture of 1/2 mineral spirits and 1/2 polyurethane to put on as a finish.  I used a permanent marker to mark the date and name of the child's height.