I looked for it “until” I found it
Ok, I believe these are the colloquial expressions that you are looking for:


我找了一找才找到。
我找了半天才找到。
我找了好久才找到。


The key word is 才, which is the closest to the English words "until" / "till". 

No. 1 is perhaps the best match. "找了一找" simply means "looked for" or "searched", without any indication of time frame.