Ready? You're getting two posts in one today so buckle up! I've been so excited to share this little project with you. I love it. I was going to tell you a big ol' story about all of the reasons I wanted to try a growth chart but you know what, we're skipping it so I can talk about stain and how cool it is that you can make it yourself.. WHAT?? yeah. love. it.
I have seen tons of pins about vinegar and steel wool making a stain but I was skeptical. After reading a few different sites and doing a little research I decided to jump in. Since I have a million Ball jars, I grabbed one and stuffed some superfine steel wool into the jar and poured white vinegar over the steel wool. I made sure to cover the steel wool and then let it sit. My jar sat on the counter for about 5 days. Every so often I would give the jar a swirl and sit it down again. It became like my own weird science experiment. After five days of sitting and swirling, I took what was left of the steel wool out of the jar and had stain.
TA-DAH!
Here's something that I deduced in my research but I didn't see spelled out anywhere: Use superfine steel wool. I tried course steel wool and it was a fail.
For the growth chart, I looked at a few different pins (my original pin was from 517creations) I had bought a 1'x6' board for a sweet $10 at Lowes. After a quick sanding, I took and old rag and rubbed on my fancy homemade stain.
I know this isn't the best picture, but you can see the bare, sanded wood and then with one coat of the stain and then with two coats of the stain. After the first coat of stain, I let it dry and then sanded it slightly and wiped the entire thing down with a dry, clean rag. Because the stain is basically rust (shhhh), some of the color wipes off so you want to make sure that you wipe it all down. After the second coat of stain I did the same thing.
Before starting this, I knew that I was going to have to do a lot of measuring. After staring at the wood, I decided that I would start the numbering with the assumption that the board would be six inches off the ground. This allowed my six foot board to be used to measure up to six and a half feet. I did this mostly because I wanted to be able to number it through 6. I used a pencil to make my initial measurements and then went back over everything with a fine Sharpie. After double checking all of my lines (at least twice), I printed off some numbers onto paper. If you have a fancy cutter, use that. I don't have one so this is what I did. I figured out my placement and then traced the number with a dull pencil. This left a slight impression in the wood that I was able to go over with my fine Sharpie. Last, I just had to fill it in with the Sharpie and BAM, numbers done.
Okay, last step (please excuse the dirty garage). After everything was dry and the Sharpie was set, I used a wipe on Polyurethane to finish off the look. I was shocked to see how much the color deepened once the poly was on it. Giddy might have been the best word to describe how I felt.
I can't wait to hang this on the wall. Right now it's leaning against the wall waiting for the master hanger of the house to find a stud and hang it this weekend.
Macie keeps standing next to it so she can be measured, of course she's never still enough to get an accurate measurement. Maybe one of these days.
