Baby proofing a raised brick hearth

I can't blame all of my baby proofing challenges on having an old home (built in 1890), but some I can. For example, because of the layout of our home, which involves four doors leading to the kitchen and two stair cases (not including the basement stairs), we need SEVEN baby gates. Some of our doorknobs aren't knobs at all, but lift latches that stick out right at a toddler's eye level. One staircase doesn't have a banister for the last five steps. Oy.

But there is one baby proofing challenge that isn't isolated to an old home: a raised brick hearth. Please see giant hazard below:

For the past eight months, we have padded the hearth with my pregnancy body pillow and every throw pillow we could get our hands on, but because the living room is the baby's primary play area, we wanted a better solution. We finally decided on turning the hearth into a padded bench that would serve the purpose of cushioning any falls while also offering a cozy place for little bums to sit.