The Cutest Baby Gate Ever!

Many months back, I approached our friend Jon with Pallet Rewind about making a baby gate for our house. You know, back when I assumed my son would be crawling if not walking by now. Silly me. The boy will not crawl to save his life, but I really do think he will be walking very soon - which brings us back to the baby gate. We live in a split-level house. Our main living space is on the second floor...aka the world's most un-baby-friendly play area. We knew from the beginning that we would have to buy a baby gate and that it would have to meet the following criteria:

• Must be heavy duty: We plan to have a couple more kiddos in the next few years, which means that we will have a gate at the top of these stairs for quite a while. The gate would need to last and also be durable enough to stand the wear and tear that babies/kids inflict on everything that they touch.
• Must be hardware-mounted: Because the gate is at the top of a flight of stairs, I want something that will stay in place. A pressure-mounted gate was not an option.
•  Must swing open: Because this is a main entry point that we use every time we come home or leave home, the gate needed to be as convenient as possible. Having to fumble around and slide a gate open and closed was not something that I wanted to deal with.
• Must be wide and tall: The stairway is very wide; the standard baby gate size is not big enough. And because I fear that my children will have Eric's daredevil genes (not my overly-cautious, scaredy-cat genes, unfortunately), I wanted a gate that was tall enough that no toddler would be able to scale it and climb over. 

Quite a list of must-haves. And let me say that when Jon showed up on Friday to show us the gate and install it, all of the requirements were met! My heart skipped a beat when I saw the gate. It is sooooo pretty and so well-made. It is exactly what I wanted (only better). It looks great in the house - so much better than the store-bought baby gates, even the more expensive ones. Seriously, take a look for yourself...

I'm in love, I'm in love, and I don't care who knows it!

Thanks so much for making us the cutest baby gate that ever lived, Jon! To all my local friends who are looking for an alternative to the store-bought baby gate, check out Pallet Rewind.