Toddler-proofing without making your home look like a daycare
The trick is buying furniture with the right shape, not covering the wrong shape.
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The corner-guard industrial complex exists because most furniture wasn't designed for children. The fastest way out isn't foam — it's swapping the two or three pieces that don't play well with a crawler for pieces with round corners and no glass. Everything else can stay.
The rule: rounded, upholstered, low
For coffee tables, side tables, and consoles: rounded corners, either upholstered (ottomans) or in soft wood. Skip glass tops entirely. Skip stone if there's any option not to. Anything you can slam a head into shouldn't have an edge.
What to actually buy
A rounded oak coffee table is $340 and lasts a decade. It replaces the glass one you're buying corner guards for. It fits every style from mid-century to warm-minimal. This one swap resolves half the safety issues in a typical living room.
The bridging move (weeks-to-months)
Clip-on corner guards buy you a few weeks. They're not pretty, they don't stay on forever, and they're not the answer — they're the answer to 'what do I do tonight while I shop for the answer.' Install them, then price out the swap you actually want.
Toddler-proofing done right leaves the room looking better, not worse. The pieces you swap in keep working after the crawler becomes a teenager.