How we added a baby gate around the banister at the top of our stairs in our home, and how we removed it.
Blog post updated 9/7/19
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Please read the whole post so you don’t miss any important information!
Sooooo we are moved! Everything went smoothly, except it looks like we are without Internet and cable until January 18! Ack! Getting a new house (new construction) hooked up for anything appears to be a long process, especially over the holidays. Needless to say there probably won’t be a lot of blog posts, but I’m going to try to post a few from my phone.
Installing the Baby Gate for the Top of the Stairs
We needed gates for our stairs which have banisters at the top. We bought some cheap gates at Walmart for $30. We didn’t want to screw into the banister thingy and for our upstairs we had to finagle things so it could be screwed into a stud. This was pretty time consuming and Daddy B did it all.
I can’t explain the whole process, but check out what we did and feel free to ask questions.
The cost wasn’t particularly low to do it once we accounted for all the brackets he bought. But it looks good, functions, and didn’t screw up our banister. Also, the upstairs gate is at an angle due to the stud being at a weird angle.
As you can see in the photo below, we added felt between the metal bracket and the wood to protect it.
If you want to save a few dollars, long heavy duty zip ties might be as effective, not have sharp edges, and be super easy to install. Just make sure you measure around the banister and get ties that are long enough. These zip ties on Amazon are 26″ long.
Gates to Purchase for Banisters
If you want to purchase a gate that will work, here are some options available on Amazon that might work for you.
I really like the look of this gate on Amazon as well, but it didn’t have a picture to include with it. It seems to have the same basic idea as the setup we had installed.
Removing the Gate from the Banister
When we removed the gate from the banister when we moved in 2018, it was as simple (on the banister side) as removing the screws.
As you can see, there’s no obvious damage to the banister which was nice. If we’d added screws, we would need to fill the holes and stain those spots.
We did need to patch the wall on the wall side of things and paint over the area.
Quick Baby Proofing PVC Gate
Our 2nd project was a gate to go around my sewing area, seeing its down in the basement with all the toys. We used PVC pipe to build a frame, then I used snaps to hold on fabric around the frame. I used some old curtains that I didn’t want to use (too much purple).
We will see if it can keep Baby G away… He mostly just stands outside and screams if I block him any other time though. He’s too mad to figure it out. Haha. Poor kid.
For what it’s worth, PVC pipe can get expensive so make sure to price your project out before investing in all of those supplies. You may find that a store bought gate is cheaper. Or even a wood gate like this one we built!