Glen Ellyn pair create unique sign for Habitat store

When DuPage Habitat for Humanity announced the opening of DuPage County’s first ReStore in Addison earlier this summer, an unexpected opportunity presented itself to public relations intern Vanessa DiStefano of Glen Ellyn.

What came of this new opportunity also brought about a bonding experience between mother and daughter.

Vanessa’s challenge was to creatively design a welcome sign for the ReStore grand opening July 23. Other ReStores in the Chicago area have used doorknobs, paint and donated printed signs to welcome shoppers.

Determined to create a welcome sign different from the rest, Vanessa called on her mother, Linda DiStefano, an established seamstress and home decorative guru with a passion for art, design and unique displays.

Having designed her own home interior, Linda consistently looks for new ways to be inspired. When approached by her daughter for help with the welcome sign, Linda uncovered a new inspiration.

“I encouraged Vanessa to create the sign out of items found at the ReStore. This way, homeowners could see how to take something previously used and give it their own twist,” Linda said.

Together, mom and daughter scoured the ReStore in search of material. Toward the end of their visit, Linda noticed a pile of donated tile. Although the colors were not what Linda and Vanessa had in mind, it sparked an idea.

“We decided that making the welcome sign out of tile would be the best way to communicate ReStore’s overall theme of re-purposing. At the same time, we knew that tile would be durable enough to last a long time,” Vanessa said.

Since the tile wasn’t exactly what they wanted, they came up with another idea. The women decided to use the Habitat colors of blue and green to create the sign. Linda then approached her bosses at Century Tile of Lombard with a special request.

Keith Carlson, the company’s general manager and material management director, agreed to donate blue and green mosaic tiles imported from Italy for the display. Although the tile would not be directly from ReStore, it would still represent the reusable items shoppers may find at ReStore locations.

Using silicone, the team worked together to glue each individual tile to form letters. After the silicone dried for 24 hours, they grouted the letters to give it a finished appearance. Additionally, to give the sign a 3-D effect, Linda and Vanessa set the tiles atop foam board.

Before delivery, the women siliconed the foam tiled letters to the backboard of the sign. An additional 24 hours was allowed for drying. On July 21, the sign was delivered.

“I have seen other ReStore signs and this just blows them all away,” said ReStore Manager Jim Fessler. “It definitely adds to the uniqueness of our store. I hope shoppers will admire it as much as we do.”

The mosaic-tiled welcome sign made its debut at the ReStore grand opening July 23. Suburban homeowners and bargain shoppers were the first to see it. Children ran their fingers over the smooth tiles as parents and other ReStore shoppers commented on the brightness and uniqueness of the donation.

“It was a really fun project to work on with my daughter,” Linda said. “It gave us a unique bonding experience and allowed us to give back to an organization that has been so good to my daughter. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

As an added surprise, Fessler is giving Linda and Vanessa the opportunity to put their artistic talents to the test one more time before summer ends. The wall on which the welcome sign is mounted is theirs for the taking. The mother-daughter duo already is working on adding more recyclable, reusable items to the mosaic piece.