The present invention relates generally to a modular drawer organizing system, and more particularly, to an easily customizable drawer organizing system for storing objects, such as jewelry or personal accessory items, in an accessible manner.
Efficiently storing, accessing, and retrieving jewelry or other small personal accessory items is often problematic. Though almost every house or apartment has drawers in which items can be stored, this open storage leads to disarray and clutter as the unrestricted space in the drawers allows the jewelry and accessories to become a confused jumble. Not only are the items difficult to find, but also damage may occur as they contact and intermesh with each other. For example, pulling a single thin gold chain out of the tangled mess may be impossible without damage to the chain.
To address this problem, consumers tend to obtain a variety of containers to try to add structure to the open drawer space. Thus the drawer is often filled with an assortment of plastic boxes, metal trays, recycled food containers, hardware sorting boxes, ice cube trays, and various other commissioned containers. While these may provide interior structure for the open drawer space, the motley collection is unsightly and displeasing. Additionally, the containers are not configured for the sizes and shapes of the jewelry and accessories, nor are they configured for easy access to the desired item. Further, the container collection rarely fits the drawer well. The containers shift and move as the drawer is opened and shut, plus unused space is left between the ill-fitting containers. Thus items may be lost or damaged as they slip under and between the containers.
Therefore, numerous flat and stacking trays are available that are configured and partitioned to hold jewelry and accessories. Placing these into a drawer improves the unsightly situation, but it is not possible to provide drawer trays and containers in every size to precisely fit drawers, because drawers are not uniform in size from one house to the next or even from one room to the next. Commercially available partitioned trays may fill a section of the drawer, but leave unused drawer space. When the drawer is opened and shut, the available partitioned trays or containers still slide from side to side or front to back into the unutilized space between them.
One approach to accommodating the differences in sizes of the drawer interiors is to hire a carpenter to individually construct custom-made partitioned trays to fit snuggly into the drawers. To be satisfactory, these custom-made trays are configured for the particular jewelry and accessories of the consumer. However, this approach is too costly for the average consumer. Nor is it feasible for manufacturers to provide partitioned trays in every size and shape for a good fit in the consumer's non-standard size drawers.
Another approach to deal with variations in drawer size is the provision of drawer organizing containers with an adjustable portion that slides in or out to accommodate drawers of differing widths. Though the container can become wider or narrower, an instability remains where the sliding portion connects to the container, thus the container is not sturdy. Also, the sliding portion may slip away from the drawer side leaving unused drawer space. Additionally, the sliding section is necessarily not fully connected to the container, so small items can slip into the crack between them or become scratched due to slippage. Further, the adjustable side has a functional appearance, which is not aesthetically pleasing and is, therefore, less desirable for many applications.
Accordingly, there is an established need for an efficient, attractive, customizable drawer storage organizer system that utilizes the drawer space systematically and fully, and additionally, allows the consumer to view, retrieve and replace jewelry and accessories effortlessly.
The present invention is directed to a convenient, attractive drawer organizer storage and display system that includes a display base member and at least one storage module, with both the base member display surface and the storage module(s) configured to hold personal items, such as jewelry or accessories. After placing the desired storage modules into the drawer, the base member display surface between the storage modules is used as additional storage space. Therefore the horizontal space of the drawer is fully utilized.
The display base member is fashioned of a single piece of fabric having a dense pile face, such as velvet fabric. The fabric is manually positioned in the bottom of the drawer to cover the drawer bottom surface. To aid in obtaining a good fit, the fabric may be custom cut to fit, folded under, or adhesively attached.
The storage module may have a single compartment or may be divided into multiple compartments configured in specific sizes or for particular items. At least one storage module is used per drawer, but generally multiple storage modules are manually situated on the display base member in a pattern contemplated to optimize storage of the particular items to be stored within the particular drawer being organized. In addition to the interior compartment or compartments of the storage modules, any surface area of the display base member that is unoccupied by storage modules is available for storage and/or display space, because the plush fabric of the display base member is suitably attractive and protective to serve this purpose in a manner equivalent to the interior compartments.
Variations of storage modules to suit particular applications for use in the drawer display and storage organizer system of the present invention are also presented.
An object of the present invention is to provide a drawer display and storage organizer system that utilizes the gap between storage modules and converts this space into suitable storage space.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a drawer display and storage organizer system that is efficient and easy to use.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a drawer display and storage organizer system that allows all the surface space of the drawer to be efficiently used.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a drawer display and storage organizer system that can be easily constructed and re-constructed in different configurations to suit different types of items.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a drawer display and storage organizer system that can be moved from drawer to drawer as needed.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become more fully apparent from the description and claims which follow, or may be learned by the practice of the invention. These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the attached drawings and from the detailed description of the preferred embodiments, which follow.
The preferred embodiments of the invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings, provided to illustrate and not to limit the invention, where like designations denote like elements, and in which:
Like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
Shown throughout the figures, the present invention is directed toward a convenient drawer organizer storage and display system, which includes a display base member and at least one, and generally multiple, storage modules. The present invention utilizes the gap between storage modules and converts this space into attractive, functional storage space. The top surfaces of the display base member and of the storage module are configured to receive and hold personal items, such as jewelry or accessories. The display base member is additionally used to line the drawer bottom. A variety of storage modules are herein presented to meet various needs.
Two embodiments are presented, a first preferred embodiment (
Referring now to
The display base member 20 is formed of a single piece of aesthetically appealing fabric. Preferably the fabric has a smooth, dense short pile face, such as velvet. Additionally, preferably the cut edge of the fabric is generally non-fraying. Optionally, plush fabrics, short fake fur fabrics, velveteen, other fabrics with a tufted face, anti-tarnish treated fabrics, suede, or felt could be used. The fabric of display base member 20 may be formed of natural materials (such as silk, mohair, linen, or cotton), synthetic materials (such as polyester, nylon, viscose, rayon, and acetate), or a combination of natural and synthetic materials. The dense short pile face is positioned upward in drawer 40 to form a surface display space 25.
As shown in
The storage modules 30 are preferably covered with the same fabric used to form display base member 20. Thus when the storage modules 30 are placed onto the base member 20, the matching fabric provides an integrated, smooth visual flow from the display surface 25 of base member 20 to the modules 30. Storage modules 30 are preferably provided in multiple shapes and sizes to accommodate any of a variety of small items to be stored within the modules 30. The items to be stored are positioned in the module display space 35 of the interior of storage modules 30. Multiple styles of storage modules 30 (multi-section modules 32, single-section modules 31, ring holders 33) allow convenient configurations to store any of a variety of personal items, such as jewelry and accessories.
As shown in
Preferably the walls 37, longitudinal divider(s) 39, multiple lateral dividers 34, and floor are formed of wood covered with fabric corresponding to the fabric of base member 20. Preferably the width of the wood forming the dividers 34, 39 is sufficiently wide to provide a flat top 34T, 39T, as illustrated. The four walls 37 of the multi-section storage module 32 are uniform in height, with the height less than the drawer 40 wall height and with the height equal to other modules 30. However, the longitudinal divider 39 and lateral dividers 34 are preferably reduced in height compared to the exterior walls 37. The reduction in height of the dividers 34, 39 allows convenient access to the items stored within the modules 30. Most preferably, as illustrated in
Though the entire exterior surface area of the storage modules 30 (side walls 37, dividers 34, 39 and module display space 35, bottom 36) can be covered in a fabric corresponding to the fabric of the base member 20, a portion of the underside of the bottom 36 may optionally be covered in a separate material, as shown later in
The extension 56 of the corresponding top fabric onto at least a portion of the storage module bottom 36 not only gives the storage module 30 a completely covered, neat appearance when viewed from the top or sides, it also provides a degree of friction. When the downward-facing short, dense pile face of the corresponding fabric extension 56 is positioned on top of the upward-facing short dense pile face of the base member's display surface 25, any tendency of the storage module 30 to slip is reduced. Thus adhesive 29 is generally not required as the weight of the storage modules 30 combined with the frictional engagement of the fabric extension 56 with the base display surface 25 is sufficient to reduce slippage.
To use the drawer display and storage organizer system of the present invention, the user observes the size, shape, type, and number of items to be stored within a drawer. Based on these item characteristics, the user selects appropriate storage modules 30 and determines a design for storing the items within the storage modules 30 and upon the base member display surface 25. Optionally, the base member 20 may be cut to fit the drawer bottom 45.
The user then places the base member 20 onto the drawer bottom 45. If the base member 20 has been cut to fit the drawer bottom 45, the base member 20 is merely positioned within the walls of the drawer 40 onto drawer bottom 45. If the base member 20 has not been cut to fit, the user folds one or more sides under to reduce the width and/or length of the base member 20 to create a base member 20 having a size corresponding to the size of the drawer bottom 45; and next positions the folded-edge base member 20 onto the drawer bottom 45.
The user then positions the selected storage modules 30 onto the base member 20 in the particular determined design with any unutilized surface of the display base member 20 functioning as a base display space 25. The items to be stored within the storage modules 30 are placed within them. The items to be stored upon the base member display surface 25 are positioned upon it.
From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the drawer display and storage organizer system 10 of the current invention utilizes the gaps around and between storage modules to create suitable storage spaces, thus efficiently using all of the space of the drawer. The drawer display and storage organizer system is efficient and easy to use. The storage modules can be rearranged in different configurations to suit different types of items.
Since many modifications, variations, and changes in detail can be made to the described preferred embodiments of the invention, it is intended that all matters in the foregoing description and shown in the accompanying drawings be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. Thus, the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.
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