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Only my cats!

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Sorry for all the cords and that darn old picture laying next to the armoire. I am getting rid of some of my mom's junk.

I know you asked for things other than family heirlooms, but the one piece of furniture that I can't part with is the china cabinet that my grandfather gave to my grandmother as a wedding gift. My grandparents had told their kids that they wouldn't have a will, so if they wanted something after they died, the rule was if you wrote your name on the back of it, it was yours (first come, first serve). My mother wrote her name on the back of the china cabinet. Mom died when I was 8, and Grampie was adamant that I get that china cabinet, so a couple of years before he died, he gave it to me, to make sure that I got it. When I was looking for a house, a deal-breaker was if there was no place for the china cabinet. I passed up a house for that very reason.

What a touching story Valzone. Okay heirlooms absolutely count. That almost made me cry.

Gosh I will miss my mom when she is gone. But she is 88 and strong as a horse. But I know she can't live forever.

newdawn,that armoire is to die for - absolutely stunning.

This is my favorite because I love the carving on the doors. It is my only antique (c. 1790). The photo was taken in the store I bought it from so that's why you see all that extra stuff around it. It's a lot larger than it looks, just shy of 8ft.
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I live in hurricane country. When we have to evacuate due to an impending storm, this question isn't theoretical. It is amazing what it is you choose when you must walk away. We don't have a truck, so nothing big can go.

Absolutely nothing. Everything in our house, they are just things; objects that can easily be destroyed and replaced.

My books.

We live in hurricane country, too, and after five evacuations I've got my "must haves" narrowed down to things that are easily packable/transportable. Aside from the expected legal papers, insurance, etc., a plastic container with family photos, my 2 Westies, our 2 cats, and now my mother's flow blue - not so much because of the value of it, but because of the loving memories that are reflected each time I hold one of those plates in my hand.

The only things I COULDN"T part with are DH and Princess Posie....and sometimes Posie is questionable!!! My sewing machine and piano and DH's guitar would be the next to save, and then
I would not WANT to part with several pieces of furniture that my Dad built for me, or the ones that he built for my Mom and I inherited.

Another hurricane person here. We lost nearly EVERYTHING except our house in Hurricane Katrina...EVERYTHING except my grandmother's vanity table that's in our bedroom and my greatgrandmother's hope chest, our coffee table that has iron legs and a china cabinet in the dining room (that I wish we'd lost b/c it's not my taste anymore (LOL!). My family pieces were made well enough that they could be salvaged (dried out and refinished). We got around 24" of water - just enough to destroy everything and have us get the house to four feet and start over.

Along with the other hurricane people above, I've learned that "things" in our house are just things. Anything I wouldn't part with can easily be packed in our cars and taken with us like pictures and memories. The rest can be replaced, as I found with months of renovation.

As for a thing . . .my photos of my children as babies. Even though they are still very young, it's amazing how I forget so quickly what they used to look like.

NewDawn,
That armoire is wonderful and I love your chenille sofa. It looks so comfy.
Valzone5,
do you have a photo of that china cabinet, I would love to see it.
Flying flower.
Simply Gorgeous.

I've had to think about that very thing because of our threats of wildfires here in the Southwest every summer.
Our important papers are in a safe deposit at the bank, so those are already taken care of. Of the rest, not including my family and pets,
*the photo albums of my family.
*Our very old family Bible that I inherited.
* my great-grandmother's first set of china. Of all my siblings and cousins, Gram entrusted them to me and I treasure them (same with our Bible):
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This antique crucifix of mine that dates back to the late 1700's France. That it stayed undamaged and so beautiful all these years, even with it's velvet covering, amazes me.
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The other three pieces I'll never leave behind.
My Sean Wimberly watercolor and the angel next to it:
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And this wonderful, old painting that I rescued from destruction in a consignment shop:
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With all my art, as well as my family heirlooms, I feel that I'm just the present caretaker of such beautiful pieces. It's up to me to keep them safe for the coming generations.

Insurance paperwork is the one think I won't do without. I'm not a hurricane person, but I've gone through two home burglaries so I think my feelings are similar.

lynn, that crucifix is absolutely gorgeous. I would definitely not leave it behind. It would be with my iron box. The iron box was my mom's. It's really solid iron, heavy as can be. That's where all the important papers are, so when the hurricanes knock, we make sure the iron box is in the attic out of the way of flooding. Then we sit with the animals and pray we survive. LOL

Here's the china cabinet.

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Yikes, Bruteses! Being up away from any flooding, but right up under a roof that could fly off at any minute sounds frightening to me! Hope all of you stay safe this hurricane season.
Here's a close-up of my cross/crucifix. There is such great detail on it. I had one of the top framers in the state build me the frame to keep it safe/safer in. In France, it was just hanging on someone's wall, from what I gather!
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I find this so interesting, but not surprizing. When all is said and done, it's just stuff.

Wigardenwannabe and Lylan thank you for the wonderful compliment on the armoire.

Flyingflower your armoire is two hundred years old and it looks brand new, it's gorgeous. They sure don't make furniture like that anymore.

Lynninnewmexico your crucifix is beautiful.

Oh so many beautiful items and sentiments. I'd have to say my art collection but in reality, if there were a disaster, I'd never be able to do it. I'd just get the essentials and get out. I love the crucifix too, That particular type was commonly used by monastic priests or nuns-
somewhere around the time of the late 19th to early 20th century.

lynn, I've never been afraid of the wind, only the water. LOL

I can't part with anything! That may be one reason I live in a craptrap. I've been trying to talk myself into getting rid of my tennis racket and can't even do that.

craptrap = crapshack

I forgot the architectural style of my house there for a minute.

Like several others here, I have some things that I would struggle and fight with DH to pack in a U-Haul if I moved across country. I have a couple of things I might try to get help moving out of harm's way if I had 15 extra minutes to leave, but really..............things are still things. Even things with history and memory and value.......are nothing.

So.........no. Nothing I couldn't part with.

Red

No, it's just stuff.

Jana

I agree with the "it's just stuff". I am getting ready to really pare down this house...still debating on the cedar chest that was my mother's that I remember her babysitting for 20-25 cents an hour to save to get...I think it was probably the only "new" piece she ever had (they were very poor, so new things were rare)......but the top is not in good shape and it is just taking up room...

Folks, I think we're losing sight of the OP's intention here. First, "excluding family heirlooms and pictures."
Second, we KNOW it's all stuff. Mostly all replaceable. That nothing is as important as your family's health.

I hope Newdawn will forgive me if I try to recast the question.
Maybe ... "What's the one item you'd never let your spouse get if you divorced?" LOL!
Maybe ... "If you were moving to a tiny one-bedroom apartment, what's the item that must move in with you?"
Maybe ... "What is the one material object in your home that always brings a smile to your face and that makes you feel that you made a great decorating decision?"

My pick: This is hard! Perhaps one of my ceramic miniatures of the "Cows on Parade" from its Chicago run, or a metal mobile--both of which remind me not to take things so seriously. Or perhaps my Tivo! Or a large framed photo of a brilliantly citrus green orchid leaf. (Decision making obviously takes me some time!)

I like your questions better Pammyfay!

I do think I answered newdawn's question truthfully. I can't let go of anything. I wish I could, but even the things I have that I don't really care for mean something to someone else in the family & somehow I have become "keeper" of the item. The most used item in my house is my computer, and next would be the tv. I don't think I have anything that always brings a smile to my face. But I think everything in my house is or was useful and I just can't part with it.

Living a long time and in the south where hurricanes and tornadoes become more frequent than your children visiting, I have learned that photographs cannot be replaced. Living through a house fire, I lost a lot of memories. Though my children were safe, the greatest thing, I missed all those photographs and memories that I cannot recapture. Scan your photographs, put them on a disk, place them in a safety deposit box from time to time. Approximately 200-300 people lost their homes in our neighborhood recently (very little bodily injury and no loss of life). Most of them said, they wish they had known, they would have gotten their photographs together ahead of time and put them in a safe place. When a tornado hits, there is no time to go running around the house getting a box to take with you because it will just be snatched from you as you fly through the window, so capture and save pictures.

When you have all of your stuff, it's particularly easy to say that it's just stuff. My partner has absolutely nothing from his childhood because their family had two housefires. To him, stuff is more than just stuff. He longs for things that connect him to his past. There is comfort in things passed down through families, especially photographs. I don't agree that everything can be replaced. Yes, you can get new stuff, but you can't replace everything with something of equal value (not speaking monitarily). Would it be equally as upsetting to me to lose the china cabinet as to lose a loved one, of course not. But it doesn't make me less attached to the cabinet.

Just my 2 cents :O)

Valzone: I agree. The stuff that you grew up with, the family photos, the family china--those all hold memories. I would never diminish their importance--those are the things I'd take first, too. But they are all family heirlooms. That's specifically what the OP took out of the equation here. Then you get to see your belongings for what they are--their usefulness, or maybe their beauty.

There have been quite a few postings here and on the conversations side of the board about "what would you grab if there's a fire, hurricane, etc." We get the emotion of those stories.

I'd just like to see the lighter side of this question! (And regarding a post that said she/he doesn't have anything that always brings a smile to the face--I just felt really sad when I read that. Family photos, granted, always do that for me--but so do some other things. Life is so serious and hard outside your own little abode; why does it have to be that way inside?)

Our 165 gallon salt water tank full of anenomes, corals, blue tangs, clown fish and queen angels. It's a daily reminder to me that if God can create such beautiful creatures that taking care of me should be a breeze. :)

OK, then ... hmm... I would say that I couldn't live without my straight iron :O) (I am more serious than joking, LOL!)

Could not or would not part with any of the many oil paintings done by my now deceased dad, who started as a child with born talent, got a scholarship to art school in grade school, and painted up to 82. yrs. old.