Baby-Proofing a Brownstone

We just moved into our renovated brownstone, and the beautiful mahogany stair rails are one of our favorite original details. But we’re expecting our first baby this winter and know we will need to outfit those stairs with approximately 50 million baby gates that will stay in place for a couple of years at least.

So our challenge is to figure out how to install baby gates that are:
a) safe and secure,
b) moderately nice looking, and
c) don’t damage our plaster walls or mahogany newel posts

Has anyone done this successfully? Are there companies that specialize in baby-proofing old homes in a way that doesn’t damage them?

rana-foroohar

in General Discussion 6 years and 10 months ago

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suebklyn | 6 years and 9 months ago

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I used the Kidco gate at the top of the stairs and a fabric one at the bottom of the stairs. The fabric ones are called “The Stair Barrier”.

cate | 6 years and 9 months ago

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We didn’t use baby gates. We never let our child out of our sight.

NorthHeights | 6 years and 9 months ago

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We used Kidco gates with good results. Their “stairway gate installation kit” has rubber-lined 2-piece plastic attachments designed to wrap around the square and rounded parts of newel posts — no screws into the wood but the plastic screws into each other, so very secure.

randolph | 6 years and 9 months ago

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http://www.babybodyguards.com/

randolph | 6 years and 9 months ago

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there is company called Baby Bodygaurds that will come and babyproof your home, they have figured out a good solution to everything.

louisahml | 6 years and 9 months ago

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We’ve used a tension baby gate in the past. We couldn’t figure out how to have the gate stay in place on the newel post and decided to place the gate in the nursery doorway instead. After reading this reply I realize it may not be the solution to your problem but it may be a start. We are starting over as we have an infant and will be revisiting this issue fairly soon.