Elise has been upright and walking since July. And even before that, I have wanted to make her a growth chart. This has been one of those projects that I started months and months ago, so I’m super excited to finally be finished with it.
This image of a wooden ruler backsplash has stuck with me since I first saw it, so I used it as inspiration for this creation. My dad found me a piece of wood and cut it to 6 x 48 inches. I had planned on painting it, but when he showed me it was a piece of cherry from a felled tree, my plan changed. I didn’t want to cover up that pretty woodgrain.
I scrounged around for some vintage rulers or yardsticks, but couldn’t find anything. So I bought a few new yardsticks at Ace Hardware, cut them and painted them up. But they ended up looking like used popsicle sticks. The colors weren’t what I had in mind; they lacked any depth and generally just made me want to puke. Fail! Project on hold until I figured out how to proceed.
Fast forward to an antique mall trip where I found these wonderful vintage yardsticks for like $1 a piece. (The whole group of them, including the ones I bought, were from places in Minnesota. Kinda strange.)
My second run through, I decided to leave the sticks whole instead of chopping them up. I very simply hot glued them to the plank vertically. The first row set the standard for the measurement and I left the area to the left empty for marking heights.
I used a black craft marker to draw the measurements for three to six feet.
Then I coated the whole thing with a thin coat of satin polyurethane, which really brought out the woodgrain.
My model was basically non-compliant for the photo session, but I was able to mark her first height on the chart.
I hung the chart in our playroom-to-be, but the colors are so neutral, it really could have gone anywhere in our house.
Kind of stupidly, I hung it on a little strip of wall where I couldn’t get any distance to take a decent full-length photo. Sorry about that.
I pieced together a close-up in Photoshop so you can see the details up close.
I love your vintage yard stick growth charts. I have a vintage yardstick from my father that I’d love to use to make a growth chart for my 2 year old son who I named after my father. Can you help?
Thanks! Jo
Hi Jo,
What kind of help you are looking for?
If I were to send you my father’s yard stick, could you make Bobby a growth chart? It’s one of the old skinny types though so it would have to be placed on a board.
I have a feeling this will cost me quite a bit though, but as my parents taught me, it never hurts to ask!
Sorry Joann, that’s not really something I can do at this point. Plus I’m sure shipping something four feet long would be a nightmare. Maybe you could find someone to do it locally?
Ok…well thank you for your time and for giving me the idea!
Happy holidays!