Saturday Project

Since the kids and I hadn't been to Papa Tom's and Grandma Sara's since Christmas we thought this would be the perfect weekend to take a little trip. We left Daddy behind to handle the house showings, loaded up and headed south. We have lots to share from our weekend trip but more on that later because what I really want to share with you is our little project we just completed. A few months ago I spoke about a trip to the farm, seen here, where I talked about my Grandpa Earl's old barn and how I wanted to recycle the wood. Well today we did just that. With the help of my dad and a handy dandy power saw we completed the project in a little under two hours, all while the kiddos napped. Here is a look at the finished project. I just have to say, I am absolutely in love with how it turned out. One could certainly use a brand new board but I think knowing that this wood is 80+ years old and has so much family history in it, makes it so much sweeter.

So now the step by step. If you have trouble following my step by step instructions, click over to this blog where I got the idea from Pinterest on.

The first thing I did was make a stencil for the ruler marks. I decided to use a couple different lengths to differentiate the 1/4 and 3/4 foot marks from 1/2 foot marks and then from the foot marks.

The whole foot marks are 3 1/2 inches long, the 1/2 ft marks are 2 1/2 inches, the 1/4 and 3/4 marks are 2 inches and then everything in between are 1 1/2 inches. I marked and traced them out on a poster board and then cut out each section to create the stencil.

I then taped the stencil to the board and used a marker to fill in each section. I should note that I started the board at 6 inches so we will hang the board 6 inches off the ground in order to make sure we are measuring at the right height. Since we used a 6 ft board this allows us to go to 6 1/2 feet, just in case my kiddos decide they want to be tall like their Papa. 

As you can tell, I only made the stencil 1 1/2 feet long. Once I hit the 2 ft. marker, I picked up the stencil and placed the 1 ft. marker where I had just finished and then filled the sections from 1 ft to 2 ft again and repeated 3 more times. 

I then took the boards outside and used a clear coat spray to seal the marker and to give it a little extra shine.

Don't they just look amazing? I love, LOVE, the aged wood effect. I think it just provides so much character. Can't wait to get them home and find a place for them in the boys' rooms. We might have to wait to actually hang them up because really there is no point in putting more holes in our walls since we are trying to sell it but that won't stop me from measuring the boys. All I have to do is go back and pull a few stats from the dr. visits and chart them! Oh and the only other thing that I might add later are their names and the year they were born. More pictures to come if we decide to go that route. Big thanks to my mom and dad for helping with the project and more importantly for getting me the wood. I know it is something I will always cherish and hopefully the boys will too. 

Would love to know if anyone decides to do something similar and would absolutely love to see the pictures!