Does anyone have any reccomendations on baby gates. First,We would like to get one that my husband and I and our older son can swing open. However I would prefer that it does not permanately mount into our walls. Secondly, what do you reccomend for a space with dry wall on one side and stair railing on the other? I'm willing to be creative and use some thing we already have. For example, our pack and play nicely blocks all access to the fireplace and I can sit our 10 mo old in it when needed.
Thanks for the tips on the Summer infant brand. We're going shopping on Friday to buy one! Your suggestions were a huge help.
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They also have a catalog. We got our pressure gates from them. It's a metal gate that automatically closes behind you. It takes a simultaneous pull back on a button and pull up to open the gate. Not sure if it will work with your stair railing but I think so. These gates also have extensions if your space is a little wider than standard.
You can't have your cake and eat it too. A pressure gate won't work on railing. Your best bet is to get the mounting gate accordian style...Use the heavy plastic ties to hold the stationary side to the rail, then put your eyelet that the other side latches on to in the drywall. I lived in a place like that with drywall on one side and railing on the other...lets just say they didn't plan to well for children when they built it. The accordian gate was the only thing that I found to work half way decent.
After having my kids knock down, open and climb every gate known to mankind, my husband built one to match our railing and it is mounted onto the drywall. If your dh is handy at all I would highly suggest something like it. You can always putty in and repaint any dry wall or molding that you screw the gate into. At least it will be sturdy. And it's not an eye sore because it matches the stairs.
We have the same problem and have been using Summer Infant pressure mounted gates we got at Babies R Us. My 3 year old can open it, but it keeps my 1 1/2 year old from tumbling down the stairs.
Actually, you CAN have your cake and eat it too. We have a pressure mounted gate that has a latch to open the swinging walk-thru part. This gate works for us and we have a wall on one side (with drywall), and a mirror on the other side. It is a floor to ceiling mirror and goes about 5 feet down the wall. The great thing about this gate is that it has 4 little 'screw in stoppers' that will work even if your wall isn't level. It really helps to keep the gate tight when you can adjust all 4 points separately. We got it at Toys R Us, and I think it was made by Summer (?). It's white metal tubular railing, and it's about 3 feet high. It's also expandable for wider openings (which was another problem for us). Good luck, and let me know if you need more info, and I'll try to find the box.
