Simple DIY you can take with you

I’m one of those people who like to create things. I love handmade things, and I love putting my personal touch on the things in our home.

However, I also don’t have a tremendous amount of patience when it comes to my DIY projects. On the other hand, my father, a very talented wood craftsman on the side, can build beautiful pieces of furniture. He made my siblings and me rocking chairs when we were younger, and he recently made an easel for my son last Christmas. One side of the easel is a chalkboard, and the other is a dry erase board with a roll of paper on top that can easily pull down for painting when my son feels inspired. I love that these handmade pieces have a story and will hopefully last generations.

Maybe my lack of patience is because I have two small children at home who demand a lot of my time. Or maybe it’s because I like to see immediate results. Hopefully as I mature and grow in my knowledge of DIY projects, I will develop more patience and I’ll be able to create more elaborate pieces like my dad.

One fairly quick and easy DIY project I happened to stumble on was a growth ruler. Did you ever have your height measured on the wall of your childhood home? Or maybe you had a grandfather like mine who would track your growth on a piece of scrap wood in his garage? Each visit, he would shepherd my siblings and me into the garage, taking down our measurements one by one on our designated post.

Those posts still reside in my grandfather’s garage, and even though he has passed away, it’s a fond memory that I will always have to look back upon.

I liked the idea of having a piece of wood that you can easily take with you. Some of you might have had your heights marked directly onto the wall of your childhood home. This way of marking heights can make it difficult to take with you should you ever have to move homes. The growth ruler I have made is moveable and can go wherever you would like, fitting into whatever décor scheme suits you at the moment.

First step in creating a growth ruler is to get your supplies ready. You’ll need: one 1x8x8 board (pine works fine), black paint marker, pencil, measuring tape, wood stain, picture hanger and template. I printed out the numbers 1 through 6 in a large font on regular printer paper.

Next, I stained my board and let it dry for about a half-day.

Once my stain was dry, I used the ruler to mark from 1 foot to 6. I started at 7 inches because I knew I wanted to hang my ruler and didn’t want it lying flat on the ground. I like the ruler look so I made the inch, quarter, half and foot marks all different sizes. Using my tape measure for accurate measurements, I used a pencil to make the lines.

On the 1- through 6-foot marks, I used my template, laying it just right; I used my pencil to create an outline of the numbers. Your pencil, if you press hard, will create an indentation which you can use to trace when it’s time to use your paint pen.

Once your board is marked, go over everything with your paint pen and spray paint it with a clear sealer.

I used an inexpensive picture hanger to mount on the back, and I was finished.

Make sure when you hang your ruler that you measure it so the measurements on the ruler are correct. Since I started my ruler at 7 inches, I made sure to raise it off the ground 7 inches instead of laying it flat on the ground.

There you have it, a growth ruler that can go wherever you go.