Life is a series of milestones.

Your first kiss. Your first job. Your first piece of furniture that you weren't forced to assemble using a small piece of bent metal and instructions in Swedish.

Uh-oh, are you still storing your books in milk crates? Good news: The Sale Room @ IMS is on the scene.

Yes, the enigmatic International Market Square, where you usually must use a designer to make a purchase, has a new spot that offers discounts of 50 to 80 percent on couches, chairs, tables, vases, antiques, carpets and mirrors to the public.

Designer/owner Sharon Allemong came up with the idea and enlisted the showrooms to use the spacious first floor to sell off their merchandise.

Those aren't piddly discounts, either. We're talking thousands of dollars off the furniture you've ogled in swank magazine spreads and snazzy showrooms.

And no Swedish language skills required.

The Sale Room @ IMS, 275 Market St, Suite 196, Mpls, 612-877-4173. Open Thursdays and Fridays (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and Saturdays (10 a.m. to 1 p.m.).

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