It's Classy, Baby! {Featuring Maison de Pax}

I'm so excited to be featuring Rachel, from Maison de Pax today! This girl is so sweet, creative, and talented!  Seriously. She's stopping by to share a super classy, DIY babyproofing tip to redeem my epic DIY babyproofing fail from earlier this week. Gone are the days of ugly, white, plastic baby gates (at least at the bottom of the stairs).

Besides the creative solution, one of my favourite parts of this feature is that she starts off her post with "Hey y'all!" I. love it.

----------------------------------------------------------

Hey y'all!  I'm Rachel, and I have so enjoyed getting to know Beth recently; we are, after all, fellow Southern gals with little boys, and though I only lived as an ex-pat for two years, I so appreciate watching Beth make such a fabulous life in the UK.  I love how blogs allow us to connect with friends all over the world!  Ok, sorry for the tangent...Thank you for having me!!

Sometimes, as a mom, I feel like "baby" and "classy" can't even be in the same sentence...  Am I the only one?  But, I am pleased to say, I find this to be one of those paradoxically beautiful things: a classy baby gate.  Unfortunately, due to the shape and location of our banister and post, we didn't really have a place to secure a traditional baby gate.  Fortunately, I have a handy husband. :)

And since our stairwell is the first thing you see when you walk in our home (you can tour the entryway here if you like), it was important to us that the gate not be an eyesore.  So Mr. Pax and my father teamed up to make a two-paneled gate that would echo the original doors in our 1940 colonial.

Though a traditional gate (one that secures on either side and swings open) wouldn't work, we devised a panel that simply slides in its "track"--the small gap between the baluster and the next step. It's a perfect solution for us.  We cut a notch to fit the molding, and put felt strips (the kind you put on the bottom of furniture to protect the floors) along the side and bottom.

We can even slide the entire thing out and hide it in the closet if we want to.

Now, for the record, I definitely wouldn't recommend having something like this at the top of the stairs where a child can push from behind.  But don't call CPS on us or anything; the gate has worked like a charm for us.  You should carefully consider and test anything you might use in your home to protect your children.  Ok, disclaimer complete. :)

Now on to one more picture that I think sums up why I love this: it was a creative solution that I think melds beautifully into the character of our home.

What do you think?  Anyone else with an outside-the-box baby gate solution?  Or how about you moms out there - when you have managed to combine baby and classy?

Thank you again to Beth for having me!

 My name is Rachel, and I blog at Maison de Pax, where we are busy restoring, remodeling, and redecorating our 1940 colonial while chasing two little boys, 1 and 3 years old.  As I you can read in my about me page, our goal is to create a home where peace can be found.

 If you like this project or would like to see more, please visit me at Maison de Pax.  You can follow along here:

Bloglovin, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, RSS, Twitter, Instagram

--------------------------------------------------- 
  Thanks for stopping by, Rachel! Seriously guys, make sure you check out her blog...she has a lovely home, and fantastic ideas!