Baby proofing with fabric

Does anyone still have one of these? It's called a stereo and it's perfect for little hands that want to turn dials, grab cords, and put things in slots. It's almost as tempting as the TV, which we put in this cabinet (below) I found at a used furniture store when our son was first pulling himself up.

But what to do with a stereo besides throw a blanket over it? We've been doing that for awhile, but I just don't like how messy it looks. So, I had to do it...I made another furniture cozy. I know, this is getting ridiculous. My husband says I'm going to just drape this whole house in fabric one of these days in order to baby-proof it, but I promise, this is the last one.

Isn't it so cute? I used a good, upholstery-weight fabric that I got on clearance and added the fringe to make it look like a little ottoman. I thought the fringe would be hard to sew on, but it was very easy. The hard part was cutting out the pieces from yards of fabric that swallowed up my dining room table for many days. I just didn't even know where to begin.

I finally began how I always do: I take a scrap of paper from the recycling bin, usually an envelop, pour myself a cup of coffee, and draw out what I envision. In this case, I measured the stereo and drew the number of panels I'd need.

The main difference between this stereo cozy and the toy shelf cozy I made for my son's room is that I made the back panel short so that we could access the cords (to plug in the iPod--we're not that behind the times!). I also cut an extra carpet square made by FLOR that we had to give the top some structure since the top stereo component is smaller than the bottom one. You could also use a piece of foam, Styrofoam, or even just cardboard from a recycled box.

So there you have it--a baby-proofing solution that doesn't require a plastic gate that, in my opinion, just screams "Get past me. I dare you!" instead of "Not for babies please."

We'd love to hear about your non-conventional baby-proofing solutions.