after turning our office at the top of the stairs into a spare guest room our stairs are now open to the room. we need a some sort of door in the middle of the staircase to keep the cats out... at the top of the stairs is a small area with spindles so the cats can still get through there... does anyone have an idea that would help our situation? see attached picture and we would need a door around the 3rd pr 4th step from the top

You do not want to put a door in the middle of the stairs. Completely against code (meaning that if any visitor ever trips on the stairs you will be 100% at fault), totally awkward to use and generally an accident waiting to happen.

Your options are to add a landing area with door at the top, or enclose the stairwell and add a landing area with door at the bottom, or contain the cats to another part of the house.

You can not be standing on the stairs as the door is swung open.
I agree on the wall and a door at the bottom, but an issue you may run into is that's a really old house so the stairs may already be to narrow to meet modern codes so the wall will have to be built so it does not effect the already narrow stairs.
Also may be a pain to try and get furniture up and down the stairs in the future.

to put a cat barrier at the point were the spindles are, i would put a sheet of clear acrilic cut to size and use very small brass or stainles steel scews to attach it to the spinles.pre drill the acrilic and use washer on both sides so not to crack the plastic.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: beers1,

ha ha ha. "cat barrier." ha ha ha HO HAHAHAHA.

ahh, that's rich.

you will have to put a door at the bottom, or at the top, and it will have to swing away from the stairs. those are your only legal options.

There is always Radio Fence. I used it to keep the cats out of the studio after one got in and chewed the foam off the wall!

It worked very well. It gives a warning before zapping a light static if they get closer.

I agree with the caution against putting a door at the top. If you put a door at the bottom, you might also want to consider how to prevent the cats from simply jumping up onto the stairs, especially from the table (?) next to the stair wall.

Cats are jumpers...very good jumpers. Mine had no trouble jumping up on top of the refrigerator.

Without enclosing the entire staircase on the side that's open to the first floor, I think this would be a concern. Your cats could simply take a flying leap and land on the stairs and bingo, they're upstairs again.

I guess my question would also be why do you want to keep the cats out? Is there something in the guest room that could harm them? Assuming "spare room" means it's not occupied regularly, and assuming that any guests aren't allergic to the cats, couldn't this be just another space for them to explore?