Today’s “Decorating on a Dime” series continues with our feature and introduction to Mary Jane Rossi of Vignettes Room Redesign in Princeton NJ. Mary Jane is known as “the Queen of Glean.” She can be found happily gleaning on garbage days and town-wide clean-up days and at local yard and church rummage sales. You could say that gleaning is in her blood since her father, Louis, never came back from walking their family dog without a “trash treasure,” often discarded lumber and molding, that he would use in ingenious ways.

“Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose” was the philosophy this forward-thinking father passed on to his daughter. Some finds that Rossi has transformed into lovely and functional treasures include:

A birch tree sculpture (with $1200 price tag from a New York art gallery still attached) bought for $5 at a Princeton garage sale. Used in a client’s summer camp themed child’s bathroom as a towel holder.

Tapestry print upholstered benches salvaged from a demolished restaurant bought at a Princeton yard sale for $8 each. Used as decorative and functional window seats.

Dental molding shelf, once part of a ripped out fireplace mantel, found in the trash outside a recently sold Princeton home. Used as an ornamental shelf in a study.

A vintage bedroom dresser mirror bought at a Montgomery church rummage sale for $10. Used as an accent mirror on a brick fireplace.

A discarded porch in Rocky Hill found during town-wide clean-up week and pieces of a bed found in the trash in Princeton transformed into an ornamental room divider between a kitchen and family room

Wood from a discarded TV cabinet found in the trash in Lawrenceville used to make window boxes

More of Rossi’s and her design partner, Veronica Pirone’s, work can be found on Vignettes Room Redesign’s website at www.vignettesredesign.com. These designers believe that your home should tell your story. With over twenty years experience, Rossi and Pirone have multi-faceted backgrounds not only in interior design but also in stage design, landscape design, art history, literature, and law.

While studying in New York City with Lauri Ward, founder of the Use-What-You-Have movement, they discovered that this eco and budget friendly approach to design blended perfectly with their own philosophy. After all, incorporating furniture, accessories, mementos, and collections clients already own and love is what truly makes their homes personal and inviting. Who wants to walk into a room that looks and feels like a showroom? Along with room redesign and showing clients how to make the most of what they already own, their services include heritage and holiday decorating, downsizing consultation, real estate staging, personalized shopping, and furniture and accessories consignment.

Contact Vignettes Room Redesign at vignettesredesign@hotmail.com and at vignettesredesign@hotmail.com.