DIY _ Growth Chart (fun & easy!!!)
**DIY Growth Chart: A Step-by-Step Guide**
Hi guys! For those of you who saw Meg's nursery reveal, you know we did a few really fun DIY projects. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to show you how to do each of those, and today, we’re gonna start with the DIY growth chart.
I'm Brooke, and I’m passionate about making beautiful things for my family on a budget. Here's what you're going to need to get started:
- **Your piece of wood**: I got this cut at our local hardware store, and it’s nine inches wide by five feet tall.
- **Sanding paper or a sanding block**.
- **Your paintbrush and painters tape**.
- **Some number stickers or a number stencil**.
- **A level and ruler or measuring tape**.
- **Your paint and a paint marker**.
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### Step 1: Sand the Wood
The first step is just to sand down the piece of wood. I like to sand the rough edges and corners just to make it splinter-proof for the little ones. This ensures the growth chart will be safe for your kids to use.
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### Step 2: Mark Off the Inches on the Wood
Next, you're gonna take your tape measure and mark off the inches on the wood. The most important thing to remember about this part is that you're probably not gonna set it on the ground, so you'll want to start at about six inches. You’ll want to continue marking off each inch until you go all the way to the end of the wood. This one goes up to five and a half feet. If you have an NBA star in your family, you might want to get a taller piece of wood next time!
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### Step 3: Tape Off the Parts You Want to Paint
Now, we’re gonna tape off the parts we want to paint. On Meg's project, she did it at every foot on this one. I’m gonna try doing it at every six inches—just to try something new. So, you're gonna continue doing this all the way down the piece of wood. You can use a level to make sure the tape is straight or just make a mark every six inches and then connect the two dots, which I found to be easier.
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### Step 4: Paint the Wood
Now that the wood is all taped off, we're ready to paint. If it looks a little funny or uneven, that's because you want to put the tape where you don't want paint. We’re doing six-inch blocks—so we have six inches here to paint and then no paint for six inches, repeating this pattern.
You’re using acrylic paint, which works really well on wood. Since I’ve already done a white one for Lincoln’s room and for Ryder’s nursery, I thought it’d be fun to try a color. This one’s actually for Ford's room, and we’re doing Elle’s favorite color—teal! When I was painting the white ones, I used really light brushstrokes and let a little bit of the wood show through to create a distressed look. But on this one, I thought it would look better to make it opaque and cover all the wood since it's such a vibrant color.
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### Step 5: Remove the Tape
Now, for my favorite part—let’s take off the tape! Oh wow, look how cute it already looks. I think Elle’s gonna love this!
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### Step 6: Add Numbers and Mark Off Inches
Finally, we’re ready for the last step—to put on the numbers and mark off our inches. I’ve chosen white for this one because I think it’ll really pop against the blue. I prefer to use a sticker so much easier, but if you want, you can use a stencil and paint your numbers on.
We’re gonna take our tape measure and a white paint pen and mark off the inches. And we’re done! This was really easy, and I think it’s gonna look adorable in Ford's nursery. We're already loving ours, so I hope you guys will give it a try!
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Thanks so much for watching! Don’t forget to subscribe, and I’ll see you next Friday. Bye, hi guys!