Wishful thinking works!

The other night as I was going through my garage sale finds, I thought to myself that I need a screen to divide the room that they are stored in. I searched on Amazon.com, but I didn't find anything that I would buy because they all looked kind of flimsy. I should note that the reason I am now actually shopping garage/estate sales, is because I am going to announce some "challenges" during the next few months. One being, the challenge to furnish a guestroom  for $500 or less. After the challenge is over, I will be raffling off some of the pieces in the room. Another "challenge" is for me to find something at a garage sale item that is worth much more than I paid for it. Stay tuned for that one!

Getting back to my screen dilemma, I put that in the back of my mind as I was preparing for the sales for the next few days. I unexpectedly found an estate sale run by Brenda Hogan Devereux and her great team from The Real McCoy.  I love that name, by the way!

Everyone on Brenda's team was friendly and very helpful. I'm pointing that out because you have a lot of people walking in and out of these sales, and overseeing all the activity, in my opinion, can be stressful! I am waiting on line with these buyers and I know whereof I speak! These shoppers can be brutal and a professional, alert, and composed estate sales team deserves a lot of credit. Not only do they have to constantly keep a watchful eye on people wandering around the house, but they also carefully pack up your purchases and help you to your car! Thank you, Real McCoy, and if you send me all of your names, I will post them :)

As I was exploring the house, I found my way down into the basement where lo and behold, in the back of the room, was a three panel screen! I couldn't believe my good fortune, because, 1. it was nice, 2. it was in great condition, and 3. at $45, I could afford it on my garage sale budget! It was also a unique design that I have never seen before shopping in the retail world.

Now the screen has a new home and an important job to do. I dusted it, shined it up, and it looks great.

As a reminder, please let me know of any questions that you have about antiques (antiques are defined as items no less than 100 years old, I found out today) or vintage pieces in general or even a specific one, because now I have met professionals who have agreed to be my experts on this subject for my blog.

Have a great weekend!