My 15 month old is beginning to walk and we really want to keep her contained in the living room. The entrance to our kitchen from the living room is almost 80" wide. This rules out most store bought "extra wide" gates as they typically are only 72" wide. Not to mention I don't have the money to pay for a $200 baby gate that I would have to modify to fit.

Any tips or recommendations would be greatly appreciated! I am very much so an amateur so the simpler the solution the better. A gate would be awesome, but not required.

Won't look good, but for cheap put a chair on each end of the opening, tie some laundry baskets together and place in front of chairs. Place them bottom up so she won't fall in.

PVC pipe, make your own, Cheap

Use pvc pipe for the ends and a piece of lattace between. I did this when I was breeding Basset hounds to keep pups confined.

lattice and slotted 2x4 material. groove it with skilsaw, 2 blade widths usually is enough.

lowes has both.

buy the thicker lattice so it fits the groove right, use liquid nails in the groove to hold lattice. cut corners on 45 so all the lattice is held.

make 3 or 4 sections and accordion them so they stand by themselves. use gate hooks in a stud and corner of cabinet (the holes will be small and easy to patch).

use a couple of screws in the corners of the 2x or use a ratchet strap around all 4 sides as a clamp till the liquid nails dries.


shouldn't be more than 50.00 total. 1 pc lattice, 4 8' 2x4, make the gate 2' or buy a couple more 2x4, 1 tube liquid nails, seal with polyurethane or paint it.

Stack stuff up to keep them out...then you crawl over it each time.

I did that to my fly tying desk.

In all seriousness, build a box or buy an end table that is wide enough to stretch the baby gate from it to the wall.

I made a box like that for the camper bed....kept my little one on the queen size bed and converted it into a baby bed.

I had to deal with virtually the same issue as you have. I used a dog pen similar to the pic below. You will have to remove the hinge pin between one of the panels to make it a straight fence instead of a pen, and remove a few panels as needed to get the right length. I mounted pieces of 2x4 on my wall to get it on studs and minimize the number of holes in the wall. Then put small hooks in the 2x4s that which the panels hang from.

I built some doors for the stairs but couldn't do much to keep him in one room cost effectively. I would just pile up some stuff to keep her corralled for the next couple weeks or just use a piece of lattice. It happens so fast, it would seem like a waste to do much more. My son took his first steps two months ago and now runs where ever you take him. I'm glad I didn't buy anything too expensive for the short time I would've used it.