DIY Baby Gate for Stairs

With the master bedroom on the main level in the new house, the pups don’t need to go wandering upstairs anymore! We’ve had a plastic baby gate up since we moved in but last weekend, The Husband made a built in gate…

The gate folds flat against the wall when you want to open it…

Because it folds in on itself and is flat against the wall, it’s mounted a few stairs up, which works fine for us, but if you’d rather have one on the bottom step you’d need to adjust the plan.

The Husband said this project is easy if you have basic woodworking skills and a few basic tools…

Built In Folding Baby Gate

For this project you need:

*(2) 1 x 2 pine 8 foot long pieces of wood-cut to the length of the gate you want-these make the frame of the gate

*13  3/8 inch wood dowels – cut to height of the gate you want to make (we used 13 per section-each dowel makes 2 pieces)

* 4 hinges:  2 decorative/heavy hinges to hold gate to the wall & 2 smaller hinges to hold 2 sections of the gate together

*Paint

*Wood Glue

*screws

* 1×6 piece of fir about 24 inches long

Tools:

*Saw

*Drill with 3/8 inch bit

*Clamps

*Screw Driver

*stud finder

Measure the length you want your gate to be-then cut that in half to make 2 sections

Cut your 1 x 2 pieces of wood

Drill  3/8 inch holes (at least 1/4 inch deep) in the upper and lower pieces of your 1 x 2 at the desired distance for dowels

Cut dowels to the height you want**leaving 1/4 inch on top & bottom to glue into upper and lower rails

On bottom rail, fill holes with 1/8 inch of wood glue**don’t overfill**

Insert dowels -twisting tight

Put 1/8 inch wood glue in holes of upper rail

Lay everything down flat and carefully insert the dowels into upper rail

Push tight

Drill and screw 1×2 side-pieces to top and bottom in order to complete the frame

If you have a clamp, clamp tight and let dry for a few hours

***Repeat steps for second section***

Cut your fir app. 20 inches long-it may need to be cut at an angle to fit stairs

locate the stud and anchor the 1×6 to the stud

Paint the 1×6 the wall color

Use small hinges to connect the 2 sections of the gate in the center

Use the decorative hinges to one end of the completed gate section

Now mount the other side of the decorative hinges to the 1×6 on the wall

***We tried it on for size before we painted it-then took off the hinges and painted the gate – then installed it again when the paint dried!

A quick project that works great!

Have a productive day