A new twist on an old tradition- Ruler Growth Chart

Many people remember having their height measured on a door frame or a specific wall of their home growing up.  It's fun to measure up against siblings at the same age, and look for growth spurts along the way.  I have no idea how I happened upon this project, however my Internet browsing lead me to a totally cute Ruler Growth Chart idea.  Apparently they are quite a popular commodity in homes of families with children these days.  They look good enough to hang anywhere in your home, and they can go with you if you move to a new house (which happens quite a lot these days for many families).  While growing up in Southern California from ages 4 to 16, I lived in 7 different homes.  I decided this was a must have and would be a quick project to work on.

I used a piece of tongue and grove pine board that was left over from building Lady genevieve's bedroom door (which I will post about as soon as we are able to hang the track and door).  The truth is that I accidentally cut one of the boards too short and had to go and buy another one.  So this piece was left over because of a mistake I made.  But it worked out perfectly because I had a great piece of wood to make our Ruler out of.

Process:

I traced my numbers straight
from my computer screen.

I cut the board down to 5 1/2 ft.  I wanted to mount the ruler 6 inches from the floor, therefore foot 1 lands 6 inches from the bottom of the board.  The top of the board ends at the 6 foot mark.  Then I used 120 grit sandpaper to smooth and prepare the surface for stain.  I applied 2 coats of Miniwax Cherry stain.  Then I used a measuring tape and made a pencil line at every inch along the board.  Every third line was 2 inches long.  At the foot markers, I made 3 inch long lines.  Then I found a font I liked from my computer, and increased the size of the numbers to size 205.  I traced the number onto computer paper right from the screen, so that the paper was back lit.  I then re-traced the numbers onto the wood, pressing firmly into the wood as I traced each number.  I purchased a very cool Sharpie Paint Pen from Joann Fabrics.  I bought the thickest point.  It worked wonderfully, and was so much easier than using a paintbrush.  I traced over each line and number with the pen.  Then I applied 2 coats of Miniwax polyurethane (Satin) to finish the Ruler.

* I randomly made my inch marks on the right side of the board.  Then I realized that most Ruler Growth Charts have the inch marks on the left side.  Though it looks different from the norm, it does the job of looking like a ruler and giving us a place to measure heights over time.  Just a matter of preference.