The Wrought Iron Nightmare

The little man is on his way to crawling VERY soon.  A little too soon in my mind but there is no slowing him down!  He is getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth.  He then plops on his belly and rolls or scoots backwards.  Every now and then, I see a scoot forwards.

Yesterday, I noticed that he moved his hands in a forward direction while on his hands and knees.  It is really interesting to see it all take place.

So, our dilema in this house for quite awhile is how to block the stairway from the baby.  It is one of my biggest fears that he is going to get to it when I turn my back for just a second.  My nightmares are are the worst!  See that brick wall of the fireplace at the bottom of the stairs and the ceramic tile?  What a landing that would be!   For anybody...
 

Stairway with Wrought Iron Railing in Main Hall

The problem is two fold:

1.The gate has to attach to the wall on one side and the vintage wrought iron post on the other.

2.  The railing ALL THE WAY AROUND is not "code".  He could easily army crawl under it OR slide through the railing.

So there are a few products our there that we are going to use for a temporary solution.  My husband wants to design something later to look better and match the decor.  However, right now, something just needs to be there for his safety.

Stairs and Nursery View

Here are the products that we are using:

1.  Banister Guard (Found at http://cardinalgates.com/ks15.html  )

The Banister guard is a sheet of plastic that is attached by zip ties.  Cutting it to fit has been a pain and I am not sure that it is going to work because of the gap at the bottom of the railing.   I have a feeling that this is not going to be in place long.

2.   Kidco Safeway Gate (Found at http://www.kidco.com/products-page/hardware-mount-gates/g2001/)

I like this gate for one reason- it attaches to the wall and the post.  I do not trust those compression type of gates for the stairs especially for this type of railing.  A piece of wood will most likely have to be attached to the wrought iron post.  Because of the dimensions, the post will have to be taller than the iron railing which will look strange.  However, as long as it works, I don't care at this time.  It will put my mind at ease so much if the gate was up. 

I will keep you posted on the progress of the gate/guard and Mr. Man's mobility!