If stylish babyproofing sounds like an oxymoron, think again. When Jora and her husband purchased a gorgeous 1962 "mid-century modern" home in San Diego last year they were thrilled, but with two young children they had to address a few safety issues, namely, the stairs and railing.
The biggest hurdle was 8 inch gaps in the railing - this wouldn't do with a two little ones in the house. Here's Jora:
We originally wanted to take the railing out and put in a new one, but an architect friend who specializes in mid-century design convinced us that it was beautiful and part of the design and integrity of the home and therefore, must be worked with. A friend gave us the idea to use 3Form - a fabulous, green product that can be used in countless ways. Here, we installed it directly onto the railings (specifically, they used Ion Wheat.). It has a beautiful translucent, natural look. Although we intended to take it down after the kids are bigger (they are 3 and 10 months now), friends have told us we should leave it up -- it looks that good!
This still left the stairs to contend with.
As for the top of the stairs, we took a fairly standard wood gate from Toys R Us and had brackets installed on the ends so that they would slide right into the rails. It looks and works great! We were so worried we would have to get one of those horrible, huge semicircular gates.
A detailed view:
Wow, thanks for sharing this with us Jora! You've definitely proved that given some thought and research, making your home safe and comfortable for small children doesn't have to undermine your aesthetic intentions.
Readers, you're in for a treat. First, Jora writes an excellent blog, Domestic Reflections, so check that out. Second, her blog friend Joslyn of Simple Lovely has posted a tour of Jora's house. (Remember that 80's Panteen commercial staring Kelly LeBrock where she implored us not to hate her because she was beautiful? In that same vein, please don't hate Jora because her house is beautiful!)
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
Oh, very clever! Now if they could team up and figure out a way to stylishly toddler-proof a balcony!
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Nicely done.
view JudiAU's profile
This is great! Safety of children is so important, but much better if there's a baby sitter or the parents will take care of their children. This safety measure would help a lot! Thanks for this post! There are precious few areas on the earth that are disaster free, so a person would do well to have some sort of a plan. One of the best things to do is to build up food storage. Obviously, you don’t want to have perishables, but a few months’ worth of food supplies in case anything goes wrong. A month or two to a year’s storage is what is recommended. You never know when an emergency will strike.
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