So we know we're not mavericks of design with this thing, but what a rad addition it is! We're the proud new owners of a GIANT baby gate, much to the happiness of my PEACE OF MIND.
I really shouldn't call this thing a "baby gate." It can keep large children, dogs and probably livestock from the upstairs, it's so solid and legit.
The baby gates I had for the older two kids were sad, plastic affairs - this thing is a beast in comparison. And it just looks sooooooo pretty in the wasteland that is the front of our house (read: zero furniture so far).
For some reason these are the only two pictures I got while "in progress." There's Chad installing the hardware and then therr' she is before the final lock was installed. I know - be jealous of this life changing post I'm writing right now. Baha!
A very, VERY scant tutorial here:
1. I measured the dimensions of the opening to our stairs (I wanted it to go all the way to the ground to the top, that way I wouldn't have to look at the carpet on the bottom step meeting the tile (I have this thing with the previous owner's floors... I want them gone! Don't get me wrong, they are VERY nice quality, but sistaaaaa sometimes a girl just needs to have her own vision come to life, you know?).
2. Next, Chad went out to the garage to access our scrap wood pile and got to cutting. Originally we were going to make the door solid (aka without the slat openings), but we both ended up liking the see-through thing more. We were also exhausted and cared very little about driving to Home Depot to supplement the wood we would need to make that happen baha.
3. So yes, just a bunch of straight miter cuts and screws! The frame is made out of 1x6's, the slats are 1x4's and then the top little header thing is a 2x2. I think the header just finishes the whole look.
4. Chad then screwed in 2x4's to the wooden part of our stair case (we are planning on changing the entire stair rail eventually so I didn't mind the humongous screws going in there). We had to really make sure they were in there securely so the swinging of the gate wouldn't bend those boards.
5. Lastly, the hardware went on (the same hardware that's on our super strong, insanely crazy, heavy duty fence in the backyard - see what I mean when I say this thing could keep out livestock as well as babies? Hahaha!).
And that's it! It took Chad about 2 hours to do from start to finish. Tonight he's coming home after work to complete the gate for the upstairs and then I'll officially be able to chill out (I mean, 9-month-old Gracie is just a daredevil, I swear).
Solid wood and DIY for the win YET AGAIN!
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