Project fireplace baby gate!

We love having fires in the fireplace at our house. As soon as the nighttime temps dip below freezing, we have one pretty much every night. We bought this fireplace insert a few years ago and it really cranks heat...so much so that we often have to crack a door to let some of the heat out! 

With the baby being mobile--and attracted to this like a moth to a flame-- we decided something had to be done about the obvious danger. Not that we'd ever let her be alone in the room, but this baby is QUICK! And she doesn't really get "NO" yet. She just turns and smiles. 

Google "fireplace baby gates" and up comes several metal contraptions for $170, and various burn pictures. Ugh. I didn't want baby to get burned, nor did I want a $170 metal contraption front and center in our living room. Brandon decided it was his task, and built this boxy-looking thing out of 2x2's left over from baby proofing the deck this summer. In theory, it was great. He put vertical slats on the front about 4 inches apart and it looked like stair railing. We used this for a day or so, having to completely remove it every time we had to add a log. 

Fireplace baby gate attempt #1
Another problem was that it is really close to the fireplace, and it's, uh, wood. The flash point for wood to burn is over 500 degrees, so that made me feel a little better. I figured that unless a pot of water left in front of the stove starts boiling, then it's not even near catching on fire. Still, I didn't like how hot it got, so we took it down at night and only used it as a baby-slow down device when we were all up and she was crawling around.

The very next day, however.....
Fireplace baby gate fail


Ok, so no babies were harmed taking this photo, and obviously the fireplace wasn't on. This was after Brandon had placed the slats and she was very curious. So I watched her slowly slide herself through the slats and into the cage, now forming a baby death trap had the fireplace been on!! So, gate #1 was promptly taken down and thrown into the garage to piece apart and use for something else.  

Now it was my turn! 

I came up with this gate-style device also using leftover lumber. It actually attaches to the wall to the left of the fireplace with a hinge, and is far away and low enough that you can open the gate to put logs in, AND reach over easily without having to move the whole thing. The hinge comes in handy when cleaning out ash, etc. And, baby likes it! She'd probably get pretty hot standing like she is if the fireplace was on, but honestly she's kind of lost interest in the whole thing since we got the gate up. 

I also like how it completely surrounds the hearth to prevent her from bumping her head and eating wood chips, which she was a huge fan of before this project. So, I am pretty darn proud! I think I may add another slat on each side to make it just a tiny bit higher, and it may get a coat o brown paint which I think will make it disappear. Brandon also approves, naming it "Project of the Year" for 2013. We haven't had too many projects this year on account of the little pink munchkin pictured below, but I was happy to receive the title!!   

Project of the Year award! 


Happy baby! 



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