We had a fully baby/child-proofed home and then we moved. Suddenly we needed to make everything safe all over again, and of course, not everything fit in the new house. We quickly discovered that the baby gates we had for the top and the bottom of the stairs wouldn’t work.

The space available to mount a baby gate at the top of the steps is shorter than the height of our prior baby gate. Upon researching alternative baby gates, we quickly discovered that the space available was shorter than all of the baby gates available.

So we explored some tutorials for making baby gates, took some tips from a few of them, and proceeded to make our own!

We measured our space and decided to make a baby gate with the following dimensions:

38 inches wide by 26 inches tall

We gathered our supplies:

• 3 1x4x8 spruce boards
• Wood glue
• Nails
• Screws
• Wood filler
• Paint
• Sealant
• 2 hinges
• 1 self-latching gate latch

And our tools:

• Measuring tape
• Pencil
• Saw
• Nailgun
• Sander
• Tarp
• Paint brushes
• Studfinder
• Drill

Then it was time to build.

Mark measured and cut the 3 boards to make:

• 2 boards at 38 inches long
• 6 boards at 26 inches long
• 1 board at 28 inches long

Tip: Based on the size of your space, you can adjust the length of the boards. The two longest boards should be the size of the width of the space, and the 6 boards should be the height that you want the gate to be.

Then I laid out the tarp, put the 2 long boards down and started laying out the 6 boards to evenly space them out with two lining up at the very edges of the long boards. You’ll have one extra piece of wood to use for attaching the gate to the wall.

Once the boards were all spaced out, I applied some wood glue where the boards touch and Mark used the nail gun to attach them to each other. 

After the glue had a few hours to dry, I filled in the nail holes with wood filler. Once that wood filler was dry, then I used an electric sander with fine sandpaper to sand down the wood filler as well as the corners of the wood to smooth out all the edges and keep little hands (and heads) safe. 

Next up, it was time to paint! I applied two coats of paint to match the wall color where the baby gate now hangs and then two coats of sealant. Remember to paint the extra board to attach the gate to the wall in addition to the gate.

Once the paint was dry it was time to hang the baby gate. First, we attached the 28-inch board to the wall with three screws. Before drilling the board into the wall, we used a stud finder to make sure we were screwing the board directly into the studs.

Then, we lined up the hinges. I held the baby gate in place while Mark held the hinges and marked where they needed to go. We started by lining up the bottom of the gate with the bottom of the board we attached to the wall, and then lined up the top hinge. After we marked where the hinges went, I put the gate down and held the hinges while Mark screwed them into the board already attached to the wall.

Once the hinges were attached to the wall, I held the gate for Mark to attach the hinges to the gate. And for the finishing touch, Mark attached the latch to the wall and the gate. 

And just like that, we had ourselves a baby gate! 

P.S. Within the first 24 hours our oldest, Emma (3.5), figured out how to open the baby gate, so she is learning to ask permission before she opens the gate. And we are keeping a small lock on hand to insert into the hole in the latch if needed.