I am typing this in my living room, which is blocked off from the rest of the house by two gates I made. This room used to be arranged differently, but then my new baby started to crawl and now she can stand up, so even more changes are on the way.
The gates are just pieces of half-inch plywood I had from somewhere. They were two feet wide and eight feet long. One gate is fairly short, at about 40 inches, and closes off the room where it meets the kitchen. The other gate is twice as long. Since plywood can bend easily, I had to reinforce the top by gluing on some extra wood. The corners are all rounded over, of course, and sanded smooth.

It’s been a while since I had a child crawling around. I was once accustomed to making sure everything that was potentially harmful was out of reach. I find it’s taking a bit more effort, now. This room has more or less been gutted. The furniture I had in here is now gone, since it could not be made “baby-proof”. I had a stand for the television that also held everything that was connected to it, including a small stereo system. But the stand was only 18 inches high, which put everything at eye and finger-level for an infant. So, now the tv is hanging on the wall.
Incidentally, if you are looking for a good way to mount a flat-screen tv (not that there are now any other kinds) on your wall, you can easily do it with wood. The back of the television likely has screw holes to accept the metal mounts that are made for them. But you can make a bracket out of wood and attach it to the same holes. You’ll likely need to buy machine screws, though. And make sure they’re not too long or you may end up wrecking something.
I did not wreck anything mounting the tv on the wall.

I did, however, have to remove the plastic stand from the bottom. I thought about keeping it. You know, you pay so much for something and you expect it should be kept complete in case you want to sell it. But it will never be sold. It seems it’s becoming necessary to start thinking differently about these things: they really are of no value whatsoever. In other words, I threw that away. The tv will stay on the wall until it stops working.

Unfortunately, the baby will soon start to walk and then the rest of the house will need some attention. I have been putting off my kitchen renovation until… Well, until doomsday, apparently. The lower cabinets are a mess and really need to be replaced, but that involves messy plumbing and dealing with the flooring and is truly something I’m dreading. But it’s soon going to need to be done, because the little monster will undoubtedly soon claim that space, as well.
And I guess I will have to get the sheets of plywood out of the hallway. The door to the basement has not been closed since last decade because I keep those sheets in the hallway and that blocks the swing of the door. The hallway is ridiculously narrow, but why waste space on a hallway?
And my gates will become insufficient as well. The time will soon come when she can pile stuff up on the floor and get over the gate.

The last baby gates I made were much higher and hung on hinges. They were like the bottom half of a Dutch door, actually, and quite a waste of time. But that was in a different place, and I actually wanted to spend time making such things. Now, I’m more practical. It makes more sense the baby should learn where not to go.

Unfortunately, that’s not possible, yet. So some revisions are in order. At least I managed to clean out my workshop last week (courtesy of my dumpster). That’ll give me more room to hide away the things that need to be out of the baby’s reach. Soon, there will be nothing on the main floor of the house except some toys, blankets, and the crib I made for her. She’s still too small to escape from that.