24 Jan DIY Growth Chart / Oversized Ruler
Growth Chart
This Growth Chart / Over Sized Ruler is a really good way to track the growth of your children or grandchildren. My in-laws kept track of my wife, sister-in-law and their nieces and nephews on a wall in their kitchen for many years. They recently remodeled their kitchen and all of the measurements that were marked there over the years are now gone because they were not able to save them. I gave the Growth Chart that I made in this video to my mother-in-law and she has already started marking the growth of her grandchildren. If she ever remodels again she won’t have to worry about losing all of those treasured memories.
I used a 6 foot 1×8 white pine board for this project. This board was purchased at Lowes for under $12.00. I started by sanding the board with 220 grit sandpaper to get a smooth surface. Then I started marking the board by clamping my tape measure to the board with the bottom of the board at the six inch mark. Doing this will allow you to attach the board to the wall six inches off of the floor which allows room for most baseboards to fit under it. Starting your measurements at the six inch mark will cause your last mark to be at 6.5 feet, allowing you to measure up to 6.5 feet on a 6 foot board.
I made the board look like a large ruler by wood burning the measurements onto the board. Each inch mark is 1/8” wide by 1” long, each six inch mark is 1/8” wide by 1.5” long and each foot mark is ¼” wide by 3” long. To make the inch line 1/8” wide, I marked 1/16” above and 1/16” below each inch. To make the Foot line 1/4” wide, I marked 1/8” above and 1/8” below each foot mark. Doing this will leave your exact measurements at the center of every line that is burned onto the wood.
After marking all of the measured lines, I added the 3” numbers by using stencils. I placed each number one inch below the foot marks and two inches from the edge of the board.
Other ideas for these large rulers would be to paint them to match your décor, add a child’s name and / or picture, note their weight beside their measurement and date. These Growth Charts make great gifts for baby showers and would draw in some business at a craft fare