Edge protection for children

[Matt Day]

I've done some searching around the forum for information on this and didn't find anything.

We have an 8 month old girl and my wife and I are starting to think about edge protection on furniture. It seems like there are all kinds of sticky back foam things sold for this, but it seems a little different when it's being put on a piece of furniture I made. What have you all used?

Also, I'm building some simple boxes (2 subwoofer enclosures on the bottom, with boxes on top that have a DVD drawer) that will be a perfect height for furniture walking, and associated head bumping. Is there anything you'd suggest that I could build into it?

Thanks,
Matt

[Mike Heidrick]

I surround the home theater components and fireplace with the plastic baby gates that can be arranged in any length. Pet corrals are the same plastic panels only $15 cheaper. Now the kidas are 3 and 6 and the gates are down and no lasting damage to the wood or speakers/components.

Id skip the DVD drawers and just buy a nice DVD rack. DVDs in the boxes will rattle.

[Mark Bolton]

This will of course be a lead balloon but what was used when you were a child? How many times did you wind up in the hospital laying on an x-ray table, MRI (not then), Cat Scan (not then), and so on, with a multi-stitch gaping contusion, which needed extensive plastic surgery, all because as a toddler you ran into the corner of a table?

I was an accident prone child. I clearly remember being in my doctors office as a teen and him walking in with two folders about 2" thick and slamming them down on the table saying "you are leading a very expensive childhood son". None of the incidents in that folder were from running into a sharp corner on a piece of furniture or a hard plaster corner. And I lived in a house with rock lathe plaster you couldnt hammer a nail into.

It seems nowadays we over-think and under-parent. Its why there has to be drowning warnings on a bucket of joint compound and "this is not a toy" on plastic bags used in packaging.

Im not trying to be mean, but I didnt know a single friend as a child who fell down a flight of stairs, spent time in the ER because of a sharp furniture corner, period.

Its only my opinon, but we all seemed to make it through fine yet we need to over-think. Its a great question to bounce off your parents or grand parents. Unless they are far different than mine, you'll likely get an amusing reality check.

:)

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I am thinking inflatable sumo wrestler outfit :D

After rearranging furniture, there was one particular edge that was repeatedly "banged" on a corner. I took some material similar to Styrofoam but it was a bit flexible, and it simply stuck on its own at the corner when I jammed it on.

Depending on the shape of the material and what can (and cannot) be covered, you might be able to take other material such as a bike inner-tube and wrap that around the pointy edges. I will admit that I am concerned about prolonged contact between things like rubber and the furniture (how will it affect the finish). Another material that you may be able to use is something like a yoga mat.

These links might prove useful, I have no experience with these particular companies, so do not take this as an endorsement:

http://www.totsafe.com/products.asp?cat=7
http://www.safehomeproducts.com/shp2/category/padding-corner-edge-pole-wall/child-safety-corner/1110/1110.aspx

[Mark Bolton]

Probably your best thing for putting on a ledge/shelf like corner is pipe insulation. Its split to go around the pipe, can miter it (on the scms with a precise angle cutting jig calibrated digitally of course for a perfect miter and perhaps assembled with CA and a custom mixed joint fillter to touch up the miter :eek:). But where does it end? A cabinet door left open is a sharp corner, the hard, yet round, porcelain corner of a tub will split skin wide open, knock teeth out, as fast as anything.

Leave all the bumpers off, turn off the tv, hang up the telephone, stop text messaging, and raise your child as you were and you wont even need the goofy plastic locks on your cabinets. I NEVER had an occasion where I drank a bottle of Drain-O, but then again, I was never left unsupervised to have had the chance (light bulb moment).

[Matt Day]

Thanks for suggestions and the links, especially the pet gate suggestion. However, I was not asking whether or not I should do any "child-proofing" or not or what is right/wrong with the current practices in child rearing - if I was asking that I would have posted it in the off topic forum.

Surely many of you have kids or grandkids and have used something on sharp corners of your custom furniture? Or have any pros been asked to incorporate something into the design?

I'm aware of the standard rubber/foam stick-on things, but I was hoping for a more elegant way of doing it.

[Jim Neeley]

Since going to primarily hand-tool work I've stared chamfering the edges and corners. With a small hand plane this can be easily controlled and (IMO) adds (if very closely inspected) a handcrafted look that doesn't look hokey. When I'm talking chamfer I'm talking on the order of 1/16" to 1/8"; not enough to be "noticible" but enough to break the edge. It also decreases the risk of splintering and getting splinters.

[Jerome Stanek]

Put the kid in a plastic bubble ball.:)

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Matt, we didn't do a lot, however the coffee table was a killer (Arts and Crafts, sharp corners, heavy table) so Diann sewed a cover for it with an external bumper. (Think fabric roll with stuffing around the perimeter).

It protected the top of the table, and the edges................Rod.

[Larry Frank]

My daughter uses the plastic corral around the TV and sound system. The bottom line is that you can kid proof as much as you are comfortable with but the kids are fast, creative and able to climb tall buildings. For the next couple of years, I would suggest that you put anything important up high or away and as they get older work with them to stay out of some things. The little kids are smarter than you think. It will be a wild and wonderful time.

[Art Mulder]

I still remember the day I walked into the room and found my toddler son on top of the microwave. As in: climb on the chair. climb on the partially opened drawer. climb on the counter. climb on the lip of the shelf that sticks out from under the front of the microwave, and finally climb on the microwave itself, where I found him, over 5ft off the ground.

[Art Mann]

I can't think of an elegant and attractive way to create a padded room.