When Eleanor Darling, the tiny human who lives with us, started crawling, I began the search for some kind of baby gate, or as we later came to refer to it, baby jail.
But first, an admission: Yes, I am the type of picky, design-snob parent who just can’t with all the extra colorful, plastic, so-kid-like-it’s-even-condescending-to-a-2-year-old stuff. Yes, I will buy an ugly toy, but only if it can be hidden when not in use. That being said, our home is nowhere near AD-worthy and it has plenty of markers of having a rambunctious toddler.
**BRIEF ASIDE**
I do get asked a lot about kids’ stuff storage and I don’t have any groundbreaking advice, but here’s what we have/do:
Living room toys get piled into a Lalo play tent at the end of the day. Everything else goes into an American Girl Doll chest I scored at the Pasadena City College flea for $40. (Also, don’t get me started on that fireplace; it’s a project we were supposed to tackle like a year ago.)
Everything else in Eleanor’s bedroom goes into this extremely meh but non-offensive and affordable Melissa & Doug chest that we attempt to disguise by piling cute stuffed animals and Liberty-print pillows on it. Kid toy chests are such a weird category. Most of them are ugly no matter the price. That said, I just came across this Ferm Living chest (below) which wasn’t around when we were looking and I may now have to buy.
In general, we just don’t have a huge toy/activity collection. So much of what we buy only gets attention for a day, which is annoying. If we feel like she needs new toys, we do an edit of what’s there and donate.
ANYHOOOOOWWWWW….back to the whole “I like to hide toys and clutter and won’t get bins that look like they belong in a preschool” thing….
I didn’t realize that this component of my identity was so controversial, but apparently when you start asking your IG followers for advice on “non-ugly” baby things, you will incur the wrath of Wholesome Millennial Moms — and I don’t want to bash them because I’m sure they’re all great moms, but they seem to just buy whatever Google advises. Here’s what happened: In came the messages (most of which went to my Requests folder, aka people who don’t actually know me) telling me I was “disrespecting” my child by putting my aesthetic needs first. One person was flat-out like, “I cannot believe you are even talking about this wtf is wrong with you.”
Why was this such a sensitive subject that suddenly sent moms into full J’Accuse mode?
Either way, my search was fruitless. We initially went for one of the many blah wood baby jails that took up an enormous amount of our living room and could not be folded away — we sold it on FB marketplace. So we ended up with one I found to be least offensive: the Evenflo foldable playpen. Still, I hated every second of it.
Ideally, I would have a baby-proofed room sealed by a single gate, however we have a small home and it’s open plan. But for parents who do have that liberty, or are seeking to close off a stairway…wow have I found some really genius things. Yes, these are custom and won’t come cheap. But still, these ideas fill me with curiosity and joy.
British homewares designer Matilda Goad created a custom lacquered gate that slides behind the TV unit. (Video below.)
(via @matildagoad)
Caption on her IG reads: “Everyone told me it was a ridiculous idea to create this landing play area by removing two pokey rooms but it’s ended up being the most used space in the home. @blockhousebuild created this sliding stair gate and tv unit based of an old chest fridge that means most mess can be hidden away at the end of the day.”
S.F.-based designer Charles de Lisle came up with this wicker addition to block off a stairway. It feels so natural that I’d keep this long after it’s necessary even though it probably won’t prevent teenagers from going out and having sex.
(via @charlesdelisleoffice)
Sophie Buhai — creator of some of the world’s best cool-girl jewelry and design objects — created this custom wrought iron gate that blends in so well with her Spanish home.
(via @sophiebuhai)
This brass-looking design comes from a long-forgotten real estate listing. If you’re looking for someone (in the L.A. area) to fabricate a gate like this, Martin de Winter is your guy.
I have no idea who this person is, and this is NOT my style (repeat NOT) but it’s a good example of how a baby (or pet) gate can be fashioned pocket-style into a wall, so you never have to see it if you don’t want to.
(via @mrsparanjape)
If you liked this post and want more ideas/suggestions on kid-specific things, please let me know in the comments!
I love this! I have the dreadful wood baby gate and boy does it kill me slowly every day.
Chic. Who are these psychos who won’t let you like aesthetics?