Baby Gate

We have two sets of stairs right beside each other, one goes up, one goes down.

The one that goes down doesn't ever get used, it leads to nothing but a closed door that separates our suite from the one downstairs.  So far Catie hasn't shown much interest in these stairs but it requires watching when she goes near them, a fall down would be really bad.

Then there's the stairs that go up.  Catie loves to go up yet can't manage down yet so they also require a lot of supervision.  Normally it's no big deal to watch her but when I'm trying to prepare dinner it's a challenge, they're right by the kitchen.  We don't really want to hang gates since we're renting, we're trying to help her learn so we don't need them.

The other day I just couldn't handle one more trip up the stairs though so I came up with this.

Both Brad and I think I'm a genious.
Obviously it's not fool proof and it still requires watching but it deters her from trying which is just what we need sometimes.  For now it's the perfect solution.