My aalto scroll chair bought 30 years ago when Artek first started to reproduce them. They were 550.00 back then.

My French Art Deco rosewood dining room table, a 1927 Art Deco Scott radio with exposed chrome tube covers, the original Shaker side table my husband inherited from his parents, and the square walnut Drexel Declaration coffee table my parents bought in 1958.

Three vintage 60's era end tables, and a prayer rug made in Pakistan.

Funny, I was thinking about this earlier today before I saw this post.

my rose-colored wingback chair from my grandmother's house.

i recently rescued a 1960s sylvania record player from heading to the unknown. its one of the vintage sideboard looking ones with speakers behind decorative "doors". im moving right now and selling off most of my stuff but that piece is a keeper. i dont know why, but i just love that thing.

A hand-me-down dining table set. It's solid wood, and incredibly heavy. While the styling and dark stain are dated, it's such a quality piece that there is no way I'm dumping it. I'm planning on spending some time sanding it down and restaining it in the near future. (:

our Saarinen Dining table and side table, jonathan adler table lamp and floor lamp, our cat fire irons, eames dining chairs and rocker

oh, and a beautiful vintage oriental runner that my mother-in-law gave to us.

The first "real" piece of furniture I bought - a Shaker dresser. Solid quarter-sawn oak, brilliant craftsmanship. (And surprisingly, not expensive compared to Pottery Barn, Ethan Allan, etc.)

I could never part with my Father's old chest of drawers that I now use in my own bedroom. It's not so much the look of it...but the familiar noise the hardware makes when opening and closing the drawers. Before getting out of bed for school, I heard that sound every morning as my Dad was getting ready for work.

The dresser in my bedroom that originally belonged to my great-great-grandmother. I had a bad dream before a move once that it fell out of the back of a pick-up truck, and someone had to shoot it because it was dying. Um...I am a little attached.

I might have to have my danish teak dresser cremated with me when I go.

My six Mid-Cen Thonet dining chairs I found for $12 ($2 ea.) at a local thrift store.

This HUMONGOUS Jens Risom Executive desk I found buried under a pile of junk at a local thrift store. Its solid mahogany, weighs a ton and is a lefty (I'm a righty). It accommodates all my electronic equipment, stacks of books and papers, pictures, and there is still room for a game of badminton. Its HUGE.

I found an Edward Wormley for Dunbar sofa for $40.

An old cabinet with glass door and pull down desk I inherited from my grandmother (over 100 years old). A huge oak cabinet (Schrank) purchased in Germany 30 years ago. A large maple entertainment center that fits in the corner of my living room and had to be ordered.

I love my 2 Carter Brothers bent plywood scoop chairs. Found on craigslist in Baltimore. Bought the set in great condition for 60 dollars!

Isn't it nice that so many of the things we couldn't part with have been passed down from others.

An armoire made from reclaimed antique cypress that my dad made for me. If the place catches on fire, I'll pull my back out hauling that thing out!

The cedar chest that my grandfather made for me.

Hilariously enough, I own the black bookcase in the top photo, and have moved it from house to house for nearly 10 years now!

It's currently in the dining room, holding wine glasses, plants, and some of the black fiestaware dishes we inherited from our landlord.

Not sure I'll own it forever, but it's held up remarkably well.

I plan to keep my leather sofa for at least ten years. While not vintage, I spent a good year plus looking for it and it is extremely comfortable and can grow with my evolving style. Also the Artimide lamp that I got specifically to go with the sofa. I love lamp was my motto for six months after I got it. Both make one corner of my living room perfect and that's all I need most days.

I have a toy box my Grandpa made for my nursery when I was born.

I don't see myself parting with that piece ever. It functioned as a coffee table at my last place. Now that I've had to move back in with the parents (I'm still in college!) it's used for storing my extra books. I love it though, so much!

I also have this loveseat. It was one of the first pieces of furniture my parent's bought together once they were financially stable. It's not the most attractive thing anymore, but it's so comfortable! They've given it to me and I'd love to keep it. I just don't know what I'd do with it long term. Maybe get it reupholstered? I'm not sure.

My cedar chest that my grandmother passed down to me. And it's not furniture, but my three faded mixing bowls that my Oma used to make bread in.

My TV cabinet and end tables that will probably never fit a modern TV. My dad made them himself in the early 80s. My other keeper is my classic old secretary desk that badly needs refinishing. But how cool is it to have a desk with secret cubbies?

sassylashes!!! I have been wanting one of those, my parents had one in the 70's.
If I had one I would totally modernize by putting better speaker in if needed, hook up an ipod inside and small amp. It would be so cool to have this really good sound coming from a vintage stereo cabinet.

I would keep pretty much everything I have. I am still debating about getting a different sofa. Mine is very unique and its about 10 years old, I would love to put it into another room and get something totally different or maybe that would be the only piece I would depart with.

My antique Pie Safe, Teak Mid-Cent Bed/Armoire/funky nightstand set. All the teak looks great together yet I got each piece individually..

I only have three pieces of new furniture in my entire apartment: my armoire, my sofa and my desk. Ironically, the three pieces I foresee getting rid of soonest are those three, haha. Other than that, I consider the rest of my furniture to be long term pieces.... Why? Well, first off, the majority of my other pieces are antiques inherited from my grandmother, great grandmother and great aunt.... In short, they have sentimental value, but more importantly they are classic beauties with classic lines and a design that will never go out of style (at least my style). Also, I believe older furniture is usually of much better quality and much more character than anything I could buy new! I find that most new furniture goes out of style too quickly, it lacks a certain timeless beauty.

The 1950s Lane coffee table that my mother-in-law purchased with Green Stamps.

Unfortunately my family hasn't passed anything down - well except the sensibility that you never throw well-made furniture away. That's why I'll have my $225 craiglist Mitchell Gold sofa recovered forever.

my olive green, mid-50s dresser thats been with me my whole life... makes me sound older than my 26 years, haha.

My childhood bedroom furniture that I still use. It is the white, fake French Provincial style that was very popular for girls back in the 1970s. The bed has long had a pronounced dip in the middle which I am sure is not good for my back, but I don't care. The set is *really* shabby chic - I was five when I received it and all I can say it that it is surprisingly rugged furniture to make it this far. It would make me sad to part with this furniture. It has always been a part of my life as far back as I can remember.

My dresser is my absolute favorite piece of furniture, I adore it and even if I moved around the world I think I'd have to have it shipped to me wherever I went. I have had it for years, I saw it in an antique shop when I was 12 and saved up for it. I was obsessed with antiques and vintage items, but that is probably one of the best purchases I've ever made. It is from the teens or twenties and it is a chest of drawers with a mirror attached to the top. It's painted a seafoam color and the paint is beautifully distressed from age, chipped to reveal the white paint underneath and the wood under that, kind of like something you'd see in an Anthropologie catalogue except that it is the real thing and more beautiful to me than a reproduction ever could be. It just makes me so happy, and I've loved it for years. I can't imagine ever not loving it. Other than that, most of my furniture is probably replaceable, though I do like some it quite a bit right now. For example, my sofa and chair are good pieces of furniute, durable, comfortable, and pretty stylish, but in 20 years I'm guessing I will have upgraded or put them in a different room in my eventual house.

My accessories are much more often things I really adore though, because my budget usually allows for getting better quality accessories than furniture. I love my vintage fan. I love my great uncle's (and before that great grandparents') framed Hiroshige prints, and a botanical print in a beautiful gesso frame I got at an antique store. I love my oriental rug I found at a salvage place for $80. And I have a small cedar chest that was my great grandmother's that I use for blankets that I am quite fond of.

My pair of vintage Knoll Saarinen Executive Armchairs which I recently had reupholstered in an Unika Vaev fabric, the 60's-era neo-Chinese/Hollywood Regency credenza I have in my hall and a pair of vintage Baker Regency end tables I have in the den.

My kitchen table. My uncle made it by hand for me about six months ago. He just passed away this week.

The table is super versatile. It could someday be a desk, or an entry table. It is a medium brown/reddish color that doesn't clash with most woods. The hardware and clean lines my uncle picked work well with modern or vintage furniture.

The act that I aesthetically love it, plus have special memories of my uncle from it, make it so important.

I'd like to be buried in my Heywood Wakefield Encore dresser. It makes having small closets livable.

My first big girl bed! I was lucky enough to have a full sized bed growing up and still have it to this day. I also have a plant that my sister gave to me when i was going off to college. still have it ahem....after all these years.

we are planning to move home in the next few months & have started selling off all of our "non-keepers" .. the only thing I decided I must keep is this old sideboard we literally found on the side of the road when I was in college. It's nothing ritzy, flashy, or fancy..it's a little battered & bruised... but it fits everything i need it to hold & i just really adore it.

that's right of all of my prized possessions, the one i love the most was somebody else's trash. =)

Definitely my Eames rocker, which my grandmother bought in the early 60s. Plus (and it doesn't count as furniture, but is just as important to my household), my great-grandmother's cast-iron skillets, which are about 100 years old.

My grandmothers art deco bedroom furniture. I love the round mirrors and the burl wood veneer.

my mother's books and kitchen supplies... every time I use her kitchen aid... I see her hands, I hear her voice and remember her...

The antique desk I got off craigslist a while back and my heirloom mirror given to me by my grandmother--it's been in my family for about 250 years. I also love my Bertoia chairs. I keep worrying I'll get tired of them (they do seem to be everywhere these days, after all), but whenever I see them, they still make me smile.

My Mission style armchair. I didn't need it at all, but I just fell for it, and was able to get it for $70 more than the antiques dealer was asking. That is a piece that will definitely keep following me around wherever I go.

A 8-foot long, solid oak, orange enameled table/desk built by my uncle and a flokati passed through my granny to my mom and then to me that's been washed so many times it's silky like cotton.

My elephant couch! Funkiest, most ridiculous couch ever - perfect for two people in love or one with a big bottom.

Couch: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aquaamber/2752707113/
Detail: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aquaamber/2744709653/

My husband and I recently had a large parsons style table made by David Ellison from the Lorimer Workshop. It's beautiful and we will have it forever. If I am successful at recovering the 1960s Howell chrome chairs I purchased on Ebay to go with it, I think they will also be around for the long haul.

Six-foot diameter Love Sac. I got it for my boyfriend several years ago, when I was just out of college and Love Sacs were still affordable. It looks dumb, it makes our living room feel like a dorm room, everyone makes fun of it, but no one has survived a day at our house without sitting in it and dozing off, it's that comfortable. I just wish it looked cooler. Despite what my boyfriend says, "a new cover" will not hide the fact that we have a 90-pound bean bag chair in our living room.

during the fall cure, turned out some things that i thought were keepers are now awaiting buyers on ebay.

also, i have this problem ... i have a chair i love, and had it brought to the reupholsterer 8 months ago. i have never found a suitable fabric for it, and i don't want to pay 550 euro to reupholster it with some "placeholder" fabric. so my beloved chair has been in limbo ever since and i don't know what to do. i promised it it would come back!

My mom saved a bench from being thrown out in her neighbor's trash. She started using it on the front porch and then, thinking it was so comfortable, gave it to me so she would have a comfortable place to sit when she came to visit (she has back and knee problems that prevent her from sitting on our suck-you-in couches). I reupholstered and painted the bench to match our decor and I absolutely love how it turned out. I wouldn't part with it for anything!

A crappy dresser from grandpa, a chair and stand (also from grandpa) and my toy chests from my dads (there stylish enough to be funiture!

I'd like to be the kind of person that would pass down my gorgeous Peruvian side tables so someone else can get some joy out of them, but they're going to make a beautiful coffin. Everyone in hell is going to be so jealous.

The only thing that my fiance and I plan on keeping when we buy a larger home is the current bedroom set (full sized bed w/headboard, 1 nightstand, and a dresser) from Boston Bed Co. Everything else will probably get replaced eventually since it's all West Elm or Ikea. The West Elm sideboard and Ikea Bjursta table will probably be one of the last things to go since they are sturdy and in great condition.

Definately my vintage Eames lounge & ottoman along with my 4 Cassina Corbusier LC2 armchairs. A close 3rd is an inlaid syrian side table from a market in Puerto Rico. I could go on...

After moving to a new country and being flat broke, a new friend gave me his one-of-a-kind handmade china cabinet (that looks awesome!) when I had no money to afford even IKEA. I still have the friend, and the china cabinet, and plan to have both for a long, long time.

An «antique Quebec pine two door oxblood original paint bottom half of a shaker style china cupboard» that I found in the garbage a block away from my home, around 20 years ago. I just happened to need someting to put my plants on. Old pine is so light that I simply carried it home - praying it wouldn't fall apart before I got there. It is still a beautiful thing, despite scratches and water stains, and the colour seems to get better as time goes by.

Mid-century sofa I inherited from my grandmother. I'm reupholstering it soon. It will probably cost more to reupholster it than to buy a new high-end sofa. Whatever. its worth it.

my favorite piece is the cream colored claw foot chaise lounge that I got on the side of the road for free. :) it is in almost perfect condition. I could see myself reupholstering it down the road, but for now it's great.

I have about four pieces of furniture that we won't replace - the dresser and armoire in the bedroom, the antique coffee table in the living room, and the antique bookcase in the den. Everything else could come or go.

Having recently moved overseas, I can tell you what I kept and plan to have forever. A solid oak dresser that was my grandmother's, a coffee table made from an old single plank table that I got at an antique fair, a blue arborite table from a thrift store, an old wooden kitchen chair with a single plank seat from a garage sale, and a small side bureau with super useful little drawers that I've had since I was a kid. You can easily see the pattern that it's all older better made stuff.