We crated our Poodle when she was young and even though we stopped four years ago and took the door off the crate(plastic kind)-she will still go into her crate when we leave. It proved to me they do not look at a crate negatively. We would love to get it out of bedroom but she loves it.
Now for Kiwi, we started with a crate but did not follow through. So we bought a tall metal pet gate-it opens like a regular door-has bars on it and is up to my hip. We put that on our bedroom door and if we leave- the dogs stay in the bedroom-we close bathroom and closet doors and check that there isn't anything they can get into. We bought the tall door because our neighbors had a small kiddie door and unfortunately one day they came home and their baby pug was hanging by the collar on the door-he choked to death.
We do not leave Kiwi with a collar on in the house either because of this.
Here is one site that sells the metal gate-it comes in three sizes-we bought the one that is 41 inches high.
http://www.petmountain.com/brands/29/1/four-paws.html