Ideas for safely setting up a home study in our upstairs hall beside stairs bannister with toddlers

[Bunnymcgee]

Exactly as the title says...

I am needing to set up a mini-home office to work from but struggling to find a space to set one up. The only place in our home that would really work is in our upstairs hall and it would mean having a small desk and chair up beside the hall bannister and there would be a high drop to the stairs beneath. I have a 2 and 4 year old who both climb things that they shouldn't which makes me very nervous to set this up in case they decide to climb up when no one is around and fall from height onto the stairs. Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas of a set up that might work? It's an old victorian house so high ceilings.

Could you get a desk in a cupboard type of thing, firmly attached to a wall? And maybe keep the chair in your bedroom when not in use?

I did exactly as I think you are suggesting years ago when my dcs were little. I put a stair gate on the corridor stopping them from having lone access to the desk space. Their bedrooms were located before the office space so they could still go in and out of their own rooms.

One of these and then remove the chair and lock it away: https://www.furl.co.uk/clever-tables/tiny-home-office?srsltid=AfmBOormHZx3wqm9medy_Qw_7Ik8vMuhZr3dnN7cKs2fYjzPBp--AQ5b

Raise the stair spindles to the ceiling behind the desk or box it in. Could you have something made and fixed in front of the spindles so when they’re older you can just remove it, perhaps Perspex.

This sounds interesting but I'm not sure Ive seen this before so going to have a Google to see if I can find images to get a better idea.

Because of the layout of our house we wouldnt be able to do that. We actually have a stairgate at the top of the stairs but they can climb it so it's pretty useless now anyway.

That's such a great idea but I would probably need a bigger space to set up on

I wouldn't rely on you always removing the chair. Thst seems to be setting yourself up for slipping up.

So, isolate that side of the house with a stair gate, put a play pen round the desk, increase the height of the bannisters....

Have you got a floorplan of the area?

The ceiling would be way too high to raise the spindles to. Perspex could be an idea though because it wouldn't need to go to the ceiling, just high enough that it's safe for them.

I’d probably do a temporary fix with a massive piece of MDF or plywood fixed to the inside of the bannister to make it higher and much harder to climb. It won’t be beautiful but would be cheap and easy to remove in a few years when the kids are less at risk.

We have one from IKEA (but discontinued) and it's called a "hutch". I seem to remember it was called Kyril.

This may well be the worst floor plan drawing I have ever done! I can't find any app on my new phone that is free and would enable me to make one up so have done what I could with the one I could find.
The funny shapes with dots are doors to bedrooms or the bathroom. The top right hand door is the one for my kids' bedroom.

Fold up chair and a wall hook so you can hang it on the wall at the top of where the stairs go down every time you aren't using it. Make the space under the desk into a den so the kids aren't interested in climbing on it?

What a free standing room divider? Could act as a wall (you could then out artwork or what ever on it?

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