Dreambox Discoveries has been taking a bit of a break for the first few months of 2017. But now we’re taking a break from our break to share this marvelous post from EstateSales.org.

It’s crammed with good details about turning your love for vintage into an actual business. That’s high on the list of what’s in my little box of dreams.

But what especially caught my eye were a couple of nuggets from Highfield Wild Rose and 510 Decor. They captured one of the things about estate sales that I love the most — something that transcends the simple fact of cool stuff and great bargains. They get into the heart of why it matters.

To quote Highfield Wild Rose:

If someone’s heirs are not interested in keeping things in the family, I can honor their collections in my own way. Even though my customers and I aren’t family, we can give people’s lifetime of collections a loving home and honor what made them happy.

And 510 Decor:

Estate sales offer a peek into someone else’s passions and lifestyle. I have found myself attracted to things that I may not have typically gravitated towards until being shown in a space where someone had displayed them with much love for those particular items.

Indeed. In our relatively short estate sale shopping careers, Timothy and I have come upon a number of those collections or individual items that we feel compelled to acquire just because … well, they deserve to live on. Somebody clearly put so much love and care into these items. They can’t be allowed to just disappear.

The bunnies above are one example. All four of them were buried amid piles of “junk” in a basement, along with some patterns, templates, fabric and other lost remnants of their creation. The two on the left weren’t even together when I unearthed them, though clearly they’re meant as a pair.

The ones on the right came from elsewhere deep in the stacks.

Though they’re adorable, they’re not the type of thing that I would typically buy in a traditional setting. But at an estate sale, in the home where they were created, nurtured and loved … I couldn’t stand to see them just cast aside once the sale was over. So I brought them home. Along with a number of other items that their creator had crafted over the years.

The bunnies on the left now have a prominent place in our bedroom. The ones on the right, which have Christmasy attire, come out for the holidays.

Maybe I’ll try to sell them some day. Maybe I won’t. But at least I’ll know they have a home. And we’re honoring a legacy.