Baby Proofing the Library

Once my little man started getting more mobile, I began to realize that the bookcase we put in the living room is not safe for him. He could very easily pull it on top of himself, the shelves slide out really easily and could smack him in the head, and it was cheap so I don't want to go to the trouble of fastening it to the wall. What to do? What to do?

I found this little tub at Target in their $1 bins! How great is that?!

The offending bookcase. It served its purpose, but it just isn't safe enough.

Several days ago I recalled that we had some fancy milk crates in the basement that could easily be fashioned into bookcases, so I went down and got those to give them a shot. Plus, they are an awesome Spartan green! Can't get much better than that!

After taking out all the books, removing the tippy bookcase (which admittedly is still in our living room laying on its side), putting the crates in their places, and reorganizing all the books, this is what I came up with.

Paper-paged books to the right of the fireplace. Bookended by a dragon.

Board books to the left of the fireplace. With a $1 tub, filled with his bowling set, on top!

I'm hoping that he won't get into the paper-paged books as much now because they aren't the only books low to the ground ... and there is a dragon to distract him. He seemed to like the new setup ...

... a LOT. (sigh) I thought it would look nice a little longer than it did.

But I want him to have free access to his books, so he can read with George the Giraffe and stuff, and he's just a baby so it's all good.

Nonetheless, I still wanted a picture of the fireplace area looking nice, so I reorganized everything and snapped this photo.

And distracted him with his ball-bellied dinosaur to do so.

Another babyproofing success!