Our New Pride and Joy - the Broyhill Brasilia Room Divider!!

We had an Ikea Expedit room divider in our Arizona room in an attempt to provide some privacy to the rare overflow guest that cannot fit in our guest bedroom and to make the room feel more cozy.  The day we installed the Ikea piece I told my husband that my dream would be to put a Brasilia room divider in that place but that I knew we couldn't afford it.

I spend some time every day looking at future estate sales to plan out which to take the time to attend.  One day I was looking at photos for a sale that was about a month away and saw a photograph of a Broyhill Brasilia Room Divider and just about couldn't believe my eyes.  I squealed and jumped.  Then I called the estate sale company to see if they ever sell items prior to sales (they don't), and to see how soon they thought I should arrive to ensure I acquired what I wanted.  And then I planned.

(More photos and story below)



We were really fortunate as this estate sale company is the only in the Phoenix area (I believe) to allow "markers" so you can arrive at the site of the sale as soon as the address is posted and place an item at the door.  When you arrive the day of the sale, then, you just pick up your marker and take that place in line.  The kind lady I spoke with on the phone told me that people do this and that if I really wanted something she recommended placing a marker.  We often catch the last day of sales as we both have busy jobs, so I wasn't aware of this!

I was fortunate to have the morning off work the day they released the address so drove out to the middle of Scottsdale and refreshed the address on my phone until it came up - and I lucked out in that I was only about 10 minutes away!  I got there and was the very first in line - it felt great!  I still arrived about 1.5 hours early the day of the sale as I was too nervous to leave anything to chance.  Hubby joined me when he was done with his day.  When they finally opened the door I ran right up to the register and pointed to the room divider and announced, "I want that!"  They put my name on it and I about melted into the floor.

While hubby grabbed a Lane end table that exactly matches the two we have in our living room (for $20 - score!), I walked around to see how much this large piece just set us back.  We were thinking they would price it $200-400 but I was prepared to spend up to $800.  I flipped the card over and the price read $75.  I tried my hardest to conceal my complete surprise and excitement and walked back to the main room.  Hubby asked how much it was and when I told him he screamed out, "SEVENTY FIVE DOLLARS!!"  Obviously he was not as concerned about concealing excitement :)  The lady who ran the sale explained it to us - it was missing the glass.  I just nodded my head and said, "Oh."

This amazing piece is designed to be open on the top like a bookcase and is finished on both sides so can be used either as a bookcase/credenza or a room divider.  The credenza portion has three drawers and shelves - it turned out to be a perfect amount of storage!

We really lucked out on this one.  When we got back to the sale to pick it up later the lady was surprised that several people had come asking to purchase the item (in the time frame of about an hour).  She said one man even dropped the f-bomb when she told him it was sold.