The Ultimate Garage Sale Find!

Attic Gal Rachelle says:

What would be your ultimate garage sale find?  If you could find ANYTHING at a yard sale, what would it be?  

This was one of mine:

Granite slab countertops. 

 I've always wanted granite slab, but I already had perfectly nice black granite tile countertops,and a girl can't complain about that, can she? It is very pretty, and though it isn't slab, it is still granite.

But tile still has all those seams, and the bar looked terrible where several pieces of tile had fallen off and broken after being smashed into by six boys spinning in infinity on swivel bar stools (BAD idea!).  Nice, huh?

 But we kept patching and repairing the bar tiles.  We couldn't justify the cost of slab just to have slab. Still I hoped someday...

Then look what popped up one saturday morning at a garage sale:

Sixteen pre-fabed slabs with gorgeous "chair rail" edges (which, I'm told, are rather costly), and tons of lengths of backsplash.  Total cost :$1200.  The guy had planned on redoing his whole house, when a divorce changed his plans.

This granite is called "Tan Brown" though there is no tan at all, and should be called "black with reddish brown."  Whatever it is called, the color is PERFECT in my kitchen, and the "chair rail" edging is EXACTLY what I would have chosen, given a choice.

A few weeks ago, a few good men had a bit too much fun tearing apart my totally decent countertops, then spent the next several days putting it all back together.  They were careful, but what a mess!

Here's the finished product (after the big clean up):

Could I have found anything more perfect if I had gone out an picked out the stone myself? Not a chance!  Meant to be!!!  

I love, love love my new kitchen.  These countertops are so easy to clean, and the pattern doesn't show nearly as many fingerprints as the shiny black ones did (and we have A LOT of little fingers around here.)  The edges are sleek and feminine.  

Yes, Hubby and I decided to  remove the swivel mechanism from the barstools, to the great dismay of our boys.

So here is the total price break down.  16 slabs plus backsplash - $1200.  We only used 10, and we are selling the rest for $600.  And we found someone to install them for $1000.  So the total cost for new granite slab countertops - $1600.  That may sound like an outrageous amount in garage sale terms, but if you've ever priced granite slab, you'd know that is an outrageous bargain.

But there is a catch, as there always is.  

The catch, and I can't believe that I am admitting this, is that I, the self proclaimed garage sale diva, did not make the ultimate garage sale find.  My hubby did.  While Alysa and I were out on our trail finding who knows what, he happened upon this garage sale on the way to his office, bought and paid for the stone, and only later mentioned it to me.  "Hey, guess what I found today?"  I think it is probably best that he found it, because in my $.10, $.25, $1 garage sale mode, the price $1200, would have given me palpatations.  I would have passed on it for sure.  But my hubby is my hero.  He has a knack for this garage sale thing, and knows how to make his girl giddy.

This wasn't my first stone garage sale find.  Be sure to check out my "Set in Stone" post, if you haven't seen it already.

So, have you had an ultimate garage sale find?  What was it, or what would it be if you could find anything - anything at all?