As you can see, the playroom is coming along nicely. So far we’ve installed a circus tent, a playmat, a little desk-and-chairs thing, and a toybox, and are planning on picking up a futon to turn the other side of the space into a living room-esque area for adults to hang out in while the kids play (I’ll put up a full before-and-after post once it’s more or less finished).
One remaining problem:
That.
Here’s the reverse view.
As you can see, it’s not exactly a toddler-friendly entrance, and is awkwardly shaped enough that traditional baby gates aren’t really an option (those half-walls look like they’re directly across from each other in this photo, but they’re not)…so a fair percentage of the the time I spend up in the playroom with Indy is actually spent wrangling him in less treacherous directions.
The solution: have Lucy stand guard.
Or call in the baby safety expert I interviewed for this JITH segment, James Hirtenstein of Baby Safe America, for a consult.
James’ solution: to install a custom gate that fits the space and offers maximum safety (he positioned the door so that it opens in front of the widest part of the stairs, giving whoever’s stepping through as much stability as possible), but doesn’t cut into the space too much.
How great is that?!
Of course you can totally purchase custom-fit gates and install them on your own, and of course I’m very into DIY-ing as much as possible…but this was one project that I wanted to call in a professional to handle. I think when it comes to babyproofing you know your own child and where he’s most likely to get into trouble…and for our son, stairs are a big one. He loves them, and wants to be on them whenever possible, and I didn’t want to spend even a second worrying that Kendrick and I installed the gate wrong or that it wasn’t load-bearing enough or anchored securely enough to the wall.
(Click here for more baby safety tips.)
