I started off making individual, elaborate growth charts for each of my children. These growth charts had places to enter milestone dates, birth information and little decals that matched their nurseries. One day, however, after binging Marie Kondo and worrying for our cluttered future, I realised that if I wanted to hang onto these precious heirlooms, I’m going to have to make space for 2 (maybe 3) 8-foot boards that contain all the same information in their baby books. Also, these beautiful kids are going to grow up and their room themes aren’t going to be the same. Lastly, I’ve made several charts for friends and family and no one wants to write on them; they’re afraid of marring it with their own handwriting (myself included)!
So I decided to “downsize” to a family growth chart. Something that can be in a common area, fit with our decor, remain timeless, and include a fun way to keep track of growth, that won’t destroy the look of it.
My solution;
I handpainted the entire board black except for the large numbers (I left them natural wood), then sealed the whole board with polycrylic. Next, I masked out all the ticks and smaller numbers, sealed them FIRST with polycrylic to prevent the paint from bleeding under the tape and painted over the ticks with 2 coats of white paint. Lastly, I sealed the whole board again, with polycrylic.
Next, I used our Glowforge to cut out several hexagons which were to be my growth markers. Each child was assigned a colour and then using the widest point of the hexagons to mark their growth, I painted them, drew their ages and then sealed them too with polycrylic. I then glued them to the board using Gorilla glue.
And there you have it! I still want to mark my and my husband’s height on it in some clever way but haven’t yet decided how.
Hello BOWSERS! 