Pet Gate Finding Purpose Blog

Goodness, where is the time going these days?! I’ve been meaning to get this post out for at least a week now…Christmas festivities keep taking priority, and of course I wouldn’t have it any other way. But, without further ado, one of the easiest projects we’ve DIY’ed in a while…a baby/pet (pet in our case!) gate.

Since our darling babies are now 6 and 4 years old, I thought we were LONG past the need for baby gates. It was a glorious feeling to move so freely from one room of the house to another, without the hazard of stepping over a gate. Alas, that short window of time has ended. I had a brief period of losing my mind, and agreed to get a dog. (In all honesty, we have the sweetest dog on the planet so I really should not complain.) But, we are back to needing gates in our house.

Let me just say, baby gates are expensive! At least, if you are looking for the kind that can open and close easily and look halfway decent. We purchased two from Babies R Us…and I think on sale we probably paid around $50 each. Yuck.

About a month or so ago, we swapped a couple rooms on the first floor of our house (former playroom became office, former wasted space room became playroom). The new playroom was off the front entry, and had a large opening that we needed to barricade. French doors would have been a great solution EXCEPT they are pricey, and I didn’t really want to close the room off entirely. And to buy a gate for that width?? Forget it! So expensive, and I really didn’t even like the smaller ones we already had.

Enter my genius hubby. I used to tease him about not being very handy, but I have to say…he’s really coming around. He fabricated this DIY GATE (Baby or Pet…take your choice!) and it has worked out perfectly! Best part? It took a matter of minutes to build. It’s also inexpensive to build. And it looks nice. Triple score!

Here is what you will need to complete this project:

1×4 pineboards (number of these will be based on size of the gate you are making!)

deck screws

hinges (I used these)

latch of choice

stain or paint- I used General Finishes Gel Stain in Java

We decided that we wanted our gates to be 36 inches tall, and measured the door opening to get the widths. We have now built 3 custom gates for three spaces in our house.

We used our miter saw to cut the pine boards to size. Then we laid everything out and determined the spacing for our slats. (TIP- we used a board length in between because it made for simple measuring…just use a spare to space them out!) I pre-drilled holes for the screws, then used the deck screws to connect. We added hinges and stepped back to admire:

I opted to stain the gates for a more cohesive look with the rest of our house. I had General Finishes Gel Stain left over from staining the pantry door, so that’s what I used.

We built the initial gate and loved it so much that we have now replaced all those old white plastic gates in our home. Even though I don’t love the idea of having gated rooms, the style of these gates make them much more tolerable!

Moment of truth: I still have to stain the two smaller gates. It’s been

on my to-do list for a couple of weeks now. It keeps getting bumped by things like looking at Christmas lights, baking cookies, watching Frosty or Rudolph, or crafting with the kids. There is always tomorrow, right?!

UPDATE June 2016:

I’ve had some questions about the hinge and how to install the gate. I’ve taken a couple of close up pictures of the way I attached the hinges. Hope this helps! Please let me know if you have other questions!

Check out some of my other DIY builds:

Original article and pictures take http://www.findingpurposeblog.com/2015/12/21/10-minute-diy-babypet-gate/ site


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