US20060265969A1

US20060265969A1 - Design layout kit

Info

Publication number: US20060265969A1
Application number: US11/136,386
Authority: US
Inventors: Marilyn Broderick
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2005-05-25
Filing date: 2005-05-25
Publication date: 2006-11-30

Abstract

A design layout kit including a plurality of furniture or appliance patterns, wherein each of the patterns defines a 2-dimensional image corresponding to a life-size piece of furniture, appliance, or garage item. The patterns can be used to plan the layout of such items in a selected floor area. In one embodiment, the design layout kit takes the form of an article of manufacture including: a package; a plurality of foldable sheets contained in the package, wherein each of the sheets defines a 2-dimensional shape corresponding to a life-size household piece of furniture, item found in a garage, or item found in an office; and information printed on the package, wherein the information describes how the foldable sheets can be laid out on a selected floor area and used to plan or determine what life-size furniture or other objects can be accommodated in the selected floor area.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention is directed to a design layout kit for designing the layout of furniture and other items in a selected area, such as a room in a house, a garage, an office, and any space in a building where possible design options are an issue.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Buying a new home is fraught with stress and problems not least of which is the issue of accommodating already owned furniture or planned-for-furniture in a prospective new house. For example, a would-be house owner visiting empty houses for sale will want to know the answers to such questions as: “Will my bedroom furniture fit comfortably inside the master bedroom of the new house?”, “Is there enough space in one of the rooms for my office furniture?”, and/or “Will my compact/large car/truck fit inside this garage with space to spare?”.
It sometimes happens that new houses for sale are sometimes filled with under-normal-sized furniture thus making it hard for a would-be homebuyer to make accurate assessments concerning how their furniture may or may not fit inside specific rooms in the new house for sale.
Renters, particularly first time renters, who seek to lease or rent empty or partially empty living space in an apartment block or other dwelling, face similar issues. For example, people often move to areas near their jobs. Still others seek to enroll at a college, but have furniture and prefer to live in rented accommodation off campus. Renters often lack the financial resources of a homebuyer and, therefore, don't have large financial resources to afford to make a serious mistake of renting space that fails to accommodate their furniture. Storage space can offer a solution, but storage space is both costly and has its own set of issues, such as security issues, likelihood of water damage, etc. Anyone with furniture who is seeking to move into a new dwelling finds himself or herself asking essentially the same question, “Will my furniture fit?” Thus, there is a need to answer this question in an efficient and cost effective way.
An office manager or business owner may want to work out the optimal layout of currently owned office furniture and appliances at, for example, a new office location. Thus, there is an ongoing need for a simple inexpensive way of helping business people and potential homebuyers and renters make important decisions about organizing the location of, for example, furniture at a potential new location.
The Applicant is unaware of inventions or patents, taken either singly or in combination, which are seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A design layout kit, comprising a plurality of furniture or appliance patterns, wherein each of the patterns defines a 2-dimensional image corresponding to a life sized piece of furniture, appliance, or garage item. The patterns can be used to plan the layout of such items in a selected floor area. In one embodiment, the design layout kit takes the form of an article of manufacture, comprising: a package; a plurality of foldable sheets contained in the package, wherein each of the sheets defines a 2-dimensional shape corresponding to a life-size household piece of furniture, item found in a garage, or item found in an office; and information printed on the package, wherein the information describes how the foldable sheets can be laid out on a selected floor area and used to plan or determine what life-size furniture or other objects can be accommodated in the selected floor area.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A shows a perspective, environmental view of a first embodiment of the design layout kit of the present invention.
FIG. 1B shows a second embodiment of the design layout kit of the present invention.
FIG. 2A shows an environmental view of the design layout kit of the present invention laid out in a selected room or floor space.
FIG. 2B shows an environmental view of the design layout kit of the present invention laid out in a selected room or floor space.
FIG. 3 shows an environmental view of a third embodiment of the design layout kit of the present invention.
FIG. 4 shows an environmental view of a fourth embodiment of the design layout kit of the present invention.
FIG. 5 shows an environmental view of the design layout kit of the present invention laid out in a selected room or floor space.
FIG. 6 shows an environmental view of the design layout kit of the present invention laid out in a selected room or floor space.
FIG. 7 is a schematic representation of an exemplary package containing patterns of the present invention and having instructions printed thereto.
Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

This invention is directed to a design layout kit for designing the layout of furniture and other items in a selected area, such as a room in a house, a garage, an office, and any space in a building where possible design options are an issue.
The design layout kit of the present invention is indicated generally by the numeral 100.
FIG. 1A shows a perspective, environmental view of a first embodiment of the design layout kit 100. The design layout kit 100 comprises a plurality of family room furniture patterns laid out in a family room 110, and more particularly on the floor 140 of the family room 110. The plurality of family room furniture patterns are represented by sheets 120 a, 120 b, 120 c, 120 d, 120 e, 120 f, and 120 g, wherein each of the family room furniture patterns define an image of a piece of family room furniture on a 1:1 scale (i.e., each image corresponds to the footprint of a piece of real family room furniture). More specifically, each of the sheets 120 a, 120 b, 120 c, 120 d, 120 e, 120 f, and 120 g each defines a 2-dimensional image corresponding to a life sized household piece of furniture. For example, sheet 120 a comprises an image of an actual size three-seat couch or sofa; sheet 120 b comprises an image of an actual size double chair, love seat or sofa, or couch for two persons; and sheet 120 e comprises an image of a single seat chair. It will be understood that the plurality of furniture patterns can include an image of any kind of object found in a home or building, such as items found in a garage, see, e.g., FIG. 6 and accompanying description below.
Referring to the FIGS. 1A through 6, the plurality of sheets 120 possess an upper surface 130 upon which images and/or words can be printed, e.g., see FIGS. 1A and 1B, respectively. Alternatively, the sheets 120 have sufficient porosity to allow words or indicia to be printed through the depth of each sheet, e.g., the printed words or images comprise of ink of the kind that diffuses through the depth of the sheet without significant loss of image or word resolution.
It should be understood that the term “floor” refers to any kind of essentially flat surface such as, but not limited to: wooden floorboards, floor carpet, tiled floors, exposed concrete floors, floors covered in linoleum, etc.
FIG. 1B shows a second embodiment of the present invention in which the design layout kit 100 comprises a plurality of patterns represented by sheets 120 a′, 120 b′, 120 c′, 120 d, 120 e, 120 f, and 120 g, wherein sheets 120 a′, 120 b′, 120 c′ comprise a word description in place of an image of a specific piece of furniture. For example, sheet 120 a′ has the words “3-seater couch” printed thereon. Thus, the plurality of patterns can include sheets with designs and/or descriptive words printed thereon.
It will be immediately apparent that a person (represented by person P in FIGS. 1A and 1B) can determine furniture and/or appliance layout options by laying out patterns 120 on the floor of a selected room, such as a family room 110 (see, e.g., FIG. 1A), bedroom space 160 (see, e.g., FIG. 2A) office space 180 (see, e.g., FIG. 3), dining room space 220 (see, e.g., FIG. 4), bathroom space 260 (see, e.g., FIG. 5), and garage space 280 (see, e.g., FIG. 6). A potential buyer or renter of a house or apartment, viewing an empty or partially empty house or apartment could use the design layout kit 100 to efficiently design one or more selected rooms or selected areas of a building without having to move real furniture into the one or more selected rooms or areas.
FIG. 2A shows an environmental view of the design layout kit 100 laid out in a selected room or floor space intended for use as a bedroom 160. In this embodiment, the design layout kit 100 comprises a plurality of bedroom furniture patterns. The plurality of bedroom furniture patterns are represented by sheets 120 h′, 120 h″, 120 i, 120 j, 120 k, and 120 m, wherein each of the bedroom furniture patterns defines an image of a piece of bedroom furniture on a 1:1 scale (i.e., each image corresponds to the footprint of a piece of real bedroom furniture). Of interest is the king size bed 120 h, the king size bed 120 h is actually made up of two twin sized beds 120 h′ and 120 h″.
FIG. 2B shows a further embodiment in which the design layout kit 100 comprises a plurality of patterns represented by sheets 120 h′″, 120 i, 120 j, 120 k, and 120 m, wherein sheet 120 h′″, comprises a word description in place of an image of a bed.
FIG. 3 shows an environmental view of a third embodiment of the design layout kit 100. The design layout kit 100 comprises a plurality of office furniture and appliance patterns laid out in a room or space intended for use as an office 180. The plurality of office furniture and appliance patterns are represented by sheets 120 n, 120 p, 120 q, 120 r, and 120 s, wherein each of the furniture patterns defines an image of a piece of office furniture or appliance on a 1:1 scale. Of interest is sheet 120 n, which comprises a sheet defining a combined life size image 200 of an office desk, computer appliance, and office chair. The image 200 is laid out on sheet 120 n such that the boundary of sheet 120 n is a regular four sided polygon shape (such as a square or rectangle); thus sheet 120 n is not cut out to mimic the shape of the image 200. Thus, in this embodiment of the present invention, complex shaped furniture or appliances can be printed as an image on a regular shaped sheet thereby saving on manufacturing costs.
FIG. 4 shows an environmental view of a fourth embodiment of the design layout kit 100. The design layout kit 100 comprises a plurality of dining furniture patterns laid out in a room or space intended for use as a dining room 220. The plurality of dining room furniture is represented by sheets 120 t, and 120 u, wherein each of the patterns defines an image of a piece of dining room furniture on a 1:1 scale. Of interest is sheet 120 t, which comprises a sheet defining a combined life size image 240 of a dining set (chairs and dining table). Thus, in this embodiment of the present invention, complex shaped furniture or appliances can be printed as an image on a regular shaped sheet thereby saving on manufacturing costs.
FIG. 5 shows an environmental view of a further embodiment of the design layout kit 100. The design layout kit 100 comprises a plurality of bathroom item or appliance patterns laid out in a room or space 260 intended for use as a bathroom. The plurality of bathroom furniture are represented by sheets 120 v, 120 w, 120 x, 120 y and 120 z, wherein each of the patterns define an image of -bathroom room furniture on a 1:1 scale. In this embodiment of the present invention, each of the sheets 120 v, 120 w, 120 x, 120 y and 120 z is a life-size cutout in the shape of bathroom furniture items.
FIG. 6 shows an environmental view of a further embodiment of the design layout kit 100. The design layout kit 100 comprises a plurality of garage item patterns laid out in an actual or putative garage space 280. The plurality of garage item patterns are represented by sheets 120′, 120″ and 120′″, wherein each of the patterns define an image of garage items such as a work bench 120′, compact car 120″, and shelving 120′″ as shown in FIG. 6.
FIG. 7 is a schematic representation of an exemplary package 420 containing patterns in the form of sheets 120 and having instructions 440 printed thereto. More specifically, FIG. 7 is a schematic representation of an article of manufacture 400. The article of manufacture 400 includes: a package 420, a plurality of folded sheets 120 (shown in dashed lines), and information 440 printed on the package 420. The information 440 describes how the enclosed sheets 120 can be laid out in a room or selected floor area, and used to plan or determine what life-size furniture or other objects can be accommodated in the selected floor area.
The sheets 120 can include any combination of sheets such as, but not limited to: sheets 120 a, 120 b, 120 c, 120 d, 120 e, 120 f, 120 g, 120 h, 120 h′, 120 h″, 120 h′″, 120 i, 120 j, 120 k, 120 m, 120 n, 120 p, 120 q, 120 r, 120 s, 120 t, 120 u, 120 v, 120 w, 120 x, 120 y, 120 z, 120′, 120″, and/or sheet 120′″.
It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A design layout kit, comprising a plurality of furniture or appliance patterns, wherein each of said patterns defines a 2-dimensional image corresponding to a life-size piece of furniture, appliance, or garage item, and wherein said patterns can be laid out on a selected floor area and used to plan the layout of such items in the selected floor area.

2. The design layout kit according to claim 1, wherein each of said patterns is foldable.

3. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a package;

a plurality of foldable sheets contained in said package, wherein each of said sheets defines a 2-dimensional shape corresponding to a life-size household piece of furniture, item found in a garage, or item found in an office; and

information printed on said package, wherein said information describes how said sheets can be laid out on a selected floor area and used to plan or determine what life-size furniture or other objects can be accommodated in the selected floor area.

4. The article of manufacture according to claim 3, wherein said package contains at least one sheet corresponding to a piece of household furniture.

5. The article of manufacture according to claim 3, wherein said package contains at least one sheet corresponding to an item found in a garage.

6. The article of manufacture according to claim 3, wherein said package contains at least one sheet with a text description printed on said at least one sheet, wherein said text description associates said at least one sheet to a particular type of item selected from the group consisting of: single chair, double chair, three-seat couch, coffee table, TV console, bed, table, plant, bedside table, cabinet, office desk, desk and work-station, dining room table, dining room table and chairs, bath tub, shower, single sink, double sink, washing machine, dryer, toilet, bathroom cabinet, work bench, shelving, and car.

7. An article of manufacture comprising:

a package;

a plurality of sheets contained in said package, wherein each of said sheets has an upper surface, wherein said surface of at least one sheet has at least one word printed thereon, wherein said word is a word corresponding to a piece of household furniture or appliance, and wherein each of said sheets has separate dimensions that correspond to the actual dimensions of a piece of household furniture or appliance; and

information printed on said package, wherein said information describes how said sheets can be laid out in a selected room and used to determine what life-size furniture can be accommodated in a selected room.

8. The article of manufacture according to claim 7, wherein said sheets are in a folded state.

9. The article of manufacture according to claim 8, wherein said sheets are made of foldable paper.