My brother and I lived in the same house for the first ten or so years of our lives. My dad had a door frame that he would mark our growth on our birthdays and sometimes after summers where we would hit one of those painful growth spurts. I can still feel my knees ache!
I remember trying to stand so tall to outdo my brother! Side note: we still do this. My brother is 5′ 11″ and I’m 5″10… but I’ve got the benefits of generally higher heels and hair that usually gives a bit of height. So the battle goes on.
Back to childhood and our door frame that held so much sentimental info-
We moved. And dad had to transfer all of our measurements onto a piece of paper kind of like a calculator tape. Then we moved again and again. He kept it rolled up carefully in his sock drawer. Knowing my life, I wanted to make sure that I had something a little bit more sturdy (especially given my track record of losing important pieces of paper) to keep track of my growing kidlets.
I decided to to use a thicker length of wood- a 1″ x 6″ x 6′ piece of mdf. We started 6″ from the floor and measured up from the floor to make sure the the measurements would remain correct. Also, this gives us a few inches above 6′ mark, just in case we end up with some basketballers on our little team!
I did experiment a bit in the process of creating this chart. After spraying the board with an off-white spray paint, I used permanent markers to do the inch marks and then sprayed it with a clear coat. DON’T DO THIS! Whatever combination I used ended up making the black lines run. Which was terrible after working so hard to make them exact.
So I started again. A new piece of wood and I sprayed it again with the off white. Using my well-worn sewing tape (well worn by my mom-not myself) I added my inch marks.
Now, here’s a secret that I learned from MUCH research on pinterest. Black nail polish! It’s not perfect-you can get little strips of black vinyl tape if you would like that-but I didn’t want to chance them coming off. So nail polish it was for my chart:
On my other board I did a lot of ornate painting, with multicolors and filled it with flowers and different finishes of paint. But after adding the heights that I have been keeping track of in a book, it was WAY too much. I needed to keep it a bit more conservative. So, I actually went with grey 6″ numbers and hit them with a light grit sandpaper.
The paint was a light dove grey and a darker gunmetal grey around the edges of the numbers to add some dimension.
Then I pre-drilled holes on the top and bottom of the board for hanging.
And then we hung it on a stud in our bedroom. This chart will soon be full of names and dates. I can’t wait. Seeing my babies grow has been one of the most incredible experiences. Sometimes you don’t even notice until their socks are showing under their pants! I’m so happy to finally get this done. Tomorrow I will start adding all of the measurements we have written down over the years!
Do you have a height chart for your kids? Do you just measure on their birthdays or at random times during the years? Tell me what I can do to give my chart a tiny bit of “umpf” but not too much to make it cluttered when I finally get all three kids’ measurements up? Any ideas?
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I am obsessed with this idea! We never had a growth chart coming up but I want one in my house after seeing this! Thanks for sharing, can’t wait to get started!
I’m so glad! It’s fun to see how fast they grow from year to year-and compare our kids too! It’s funny that they came from the same parents but they are so different!
Great idea and it’ll make wonderful memories too
Yes! I forget so much-I blame lack of sleep! It will be awesome to have a record of how tall they were when they started preschool… and kindergarten… and so many more milestones. 🙂
My 14 year old is now over 6 foot 1 inches tall…I would need a REALLY tall one!
Only 14 years old and 6′ 1″?? Wow! He’s going to be tall! I just googled and from what I read he *could* grow another 6″ by 21 yrs old! Yes, you are going to need either a really long board, or maybe you could start it at 2 ft?
Great DIY! I love keeping track of my kids’ height as well — maybe I’ll give this a go!
Thanks! I love the board… but now I’m hesitant to write on it! 🙂
Are you stinkin’ kidding me!? I have GOT to do this for my kids. They’re growing so fast, and this would make an incredible keepsake for us (we honestly don’t have many). This also solves the dilemma of what to do if you MOVE. I know we used to do it at my grandma’s on her door frame in the kitchen, but then she moved….
Love this! Thank you!
I’m glad you liked the post! Yes, kids grow way too fast. I know that we won’t be staying in our current house-too small! So I will love being able to take this along. 🙂 Thank you!
i love this idea. my husband thinks it’s funny ours is on the wall – like on the paint- he’ll be cutting it OUT of the wall and repairing the wall if and when we move!!
I considered just writing on the wall and then cutting it out and taking it with us. But this sounded like a better idea!
What a great DIY project!
Thanks! I can’t wait to fill in all of the measurements I have saved for about 6 years now! 🙂
Well, now that my kids are both over 40, I can tell you that this is a much better idea than using the back of a bedroom door. Don’t have that door any more..well, heck.. don’t even have that house any more. Portable is better 😉
we have a similar height chart in the house as well. we keep track at least every couple of months and note changes if there are any. i think it is great to look back and see how fast the kids have grown.
I don’t have a need for this now, but I’m very crafty and am amazed at how cute this is! It came out so perfect, and it is obvious the kids love it now, and I’m sure they’ll appreciate it when they’re also. Nice decoration, nice keepsake, cute photos!
I never thought about putting this on mdf. Wonderful idea. Only thing I would do differently is make the numbers just a bit smaller. I think I would put some butterflies or dragonflies on it(for little girls) or cars & trucks (for little boys), or frogs for my daughter who loves them. How cute, and you could have this forever! (even if you move!)
this is really cute and good to know now what to do, and what not to do!!!