A Small Dog, Foam Core Board and Magnets. What Does This All Mean?!

by Ann M

3 Materials

I do not like the baby/doggy gate that we have used for Emma for the past 5 years. It's the traditional white plastic gate. Emma is 12 lbs so we don't need a heavy gate.

I came up with this idea after I noticed a chunk out of the corner of the wall as I came up from the basement that must have happened days before when we had something moved from the basement. On inspection I noticed the corner had a metal piece inside! Grabbing a magnet I placed it in several areas along the corner and the corner on the opposite side of the steps. All magnetic!

Im going to make a MAGNETIC doggy gate!!!

Emma sniffing the roll of magnets!

i have an open basement and that opening is 40 inches. The old gate stood at 26 inches high.

I found a 42 inch wide by 32 inch high foam core board at Hobby Lobby.

I trimmed off 6 inches along the top.

I also cut out a small section on each bottom side to accommodate the baseboard.

Standard plastic gate leaning against wall

The picture below shows after the board was trimmed to size how I placed 5 magnets along each side in holes I cut to magnet size. The magnets pushed in easily.

Magnets pressed into holes I made.

After this I used duct tape To tape over the holes on each side and also the top and bottom. I even crisscrossed the tape for extra board strength.

New but ugly gate

Now you can cover it If youd like. Contact paper would work but I had fabric that would go well in my hallway with the Bee gallery wall.

If you use fabric don't overlap as you don't want extra thickness over the magnets.

Complete

I had a French script fabric and printed out a Queen Bee print from Graphics Fairy onto decal paper which I ironed on in the center. I also had Bee ribbon that I used as trim.

This is working so well. I love that the magnets actually work!!!

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3 of 5 questions

Kathy Ryan LaCarte on Apr 01, 2017
I don't understand what the magnets are for

6
Nadine Hartman Bourne on Apr 01, 2017
Great idea, are the magnets pushed into the back or the front? I would have glued them to the back after covering in the fabric for maximum hold. if you ever need to find the studs in the walls magnets are great for that. they cling to the nails in the studs.

1
Shelley Miller ONeill on Apr 02, 2017

would you show a pic of your bee gallery wall? Are you Beekeepers?

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2 of 51 comments

Itsmemic on Apr 06, 2017

WHOOPS !! Guess I should have mentioned my "Little Girls" are 6 and 7 lb Chihuahuas :) Thanks for the concern though !

3 Reply
Carey on Apr 29, 2017

Years ago, I got my first long haired doxy puppy, just before I left WA state for CA to visit my daughter. So my puppy was trained on the road! He turned out to be a great traveler and loved to travel. But down at my daughters, he didn't understand her rules of behavior and was always in trouble over something. Finally, in frustration, she said, "Mom! You never babied a dog like this!" "No, I babied my babies, NOW HE IS MY BABY!" i responded. "Oh." was all she said and the problems resolved themselves. Now I have a mini long-hair Doxy and a Teeny Tiny poodle. I call them my babies, or "girls". They are my babies!

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