Improvising (DIY Bed Rail Cover)

About a month ago my 18 month old started climbing out of his crib. He was very excited about this new skill, making bed times and nap times even more challenging. After hearing a loud thud from his room, followed by crying, I realized something had to be done.
I'm not ready to put him in a real bed yet (nor do I have one for him), but I had an extra long bed rail that I had used on Ava's bed. And his crib has a removable drop-side rail. The bed rail cover started falling apart after just one wash in the machine, so I figured I'd have to make another cover. I discovered, however, that the extra long rail was too long for the crib. It was a 3-piece deal but they didn't make it so you could link just 2 lengths instead of three.
I didn't photograph the process and it's hard to explain, but essentially I bought some wooden dowels and shoved them inside the hollow aluminum pipe frame then duct taped around the pipes so they couldn't slide. After all, this had to be toddler-boy-proof. I took the older cover, adjusted the length and stole the zipper from it, and traced around it onto my new fabric cover. I still can't believe how quick and easy of a fix this was. And cheap too! (about $5 total).

Now he can easily get out without falling, but not roll out while sleeping. And this was much cheap than a new bed, a good short term solution. I did realize though that it wasn't as stable as it should be, so I threaded some cord through the under rails (they had a good hole for that) and gave it extra securing by tying it (under the mattress) to the wooden rails on the opposite side. That thing isn't going anywhere, let me tell you. I did have to also put a child lock on the door... It took a few days for him to just stay in his crib, but now he does consistently.
And here's the little trouble-maker himself, in his jammies and excited for the change. He loves being in pictures.

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