Living in small spaces is all the hype these days and my husband and I are paring down our belongings left and right. Although we're good with doing without and borrowing things from friends and using our community as a network of resources — there's still a few things we just can't live without. I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours!
For my husband and I who have moved more times than we have fingers to count, we've shifted, sold and brought in more furniture and furnishings than we care to admit. We've loved them all (or at least I have… jury is still out on my poor supportive husband) and are OK with the in-and-out nature of our belongings.
That said, there are a few things we need in our house to make it function. Not to sound temporal, but our computers top that list as we need them to make money and keep the lights on and food in our tummies! When it comes to decor, I have an old board game I cherish. My 8 cousins and I played hundreds of thousands of games with it against my Grandfather and it is very special to me.
As a family, my husband and I have a long wooden bench which you can see in the photo above that we've had in our last 4 spaces — no matter how small — which was often a chore with a 10' bench! It's made from antique barn wood that holds no significance to us other than it being the first piece of cool furniture we ever bought. We've always had neat "stuff" and artwork, but it was the beginning of love for fun and funky things that has only grown stronger as the years have progressed.
When all is said and done, we don't need anything in our house to live, but if there was a fire and aside from grabbing important documents and photos (though most of those are online for just such an instance), we'd pack up our pups and drag that bench out before it was engulfed in the flames! If we failed to do so, I'm sure we'd find another and so the cycle would continue.
What's the favorite thing in your home? Through thick and through thin, what will always be found in your space? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Our Bench Can Be Found In The Following Posts:
• The Trover's Temporary Pre-Designed Pad
• Before & After: Spray Painted Chevron Carpet
• How To: Make Hanging Wooden Walls With Grommets
Images: Sarah Rae Trover
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Juan's Garage Turned Modern Guest House
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The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Sheex Bedding
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How to Make Fresh Pasta Dough in the Food Processor
I love sentimental item. Its what makes a house into a home.
T have a small bronze lion I bought as a teenager while living in Japan. It was the first big purchase I made with money I had made myself. It was even stolen in a burglary but somehow recovered. It had a history before me--it was part of a family's home shrine. It's just a small beautiful thing I love.
Oh yeah. It's an antique solid oak ice box. A garage sale find for $2. We've lugged that beast in five moves to five states. However the next move is international and the icebox won't be coming. :-(
When my grandmother died in '73 and my grandfather was clearing out the house I was allowed to take one thing for myself. I took the conch shells that had sat for years on the little shelves outside the downstairs bedroom. When I was very small I would hold them up to my ear and listen to the ocean. I can't imagine not having them.
Tough question... Assuming above & beyond the very basic necessities of life, health & cleanliness. If just one thing, the computer for sure. If I could have a little bit more, add the iphone, kindle, slouchy rolled up boyfriend jeans, bikini, my two Balenciaga bags and all my James Perse Ts/tanks.
I actually had the moment where I ran out of my burning building--and the winners are embarrassing: the iPod, the Laptop, doggy treats. I will say that I tried to figure out how much time it would take me to save one treasured artwork. But when I think of what I need to make myself feel like I'm home, it is all about the cast iron skillet.
My wooden slab coffee table (it resembles a Nakashima piece). My parents, who were highschool sweethearts, and are still married 35+ years later, bought it shortly after they got married in the 60s. It has their progressive addresses scrawled on the underside in permanent marker as they shipped it from Boston to Colorado, to California, and then to Northern Virginia. It now sits in my living room, and I treasure it along with it's history.
i have a cobblers bench that has been in the family for 200 years and is still in amazing shape. I also have a state of a monkey looking at a human skull that was my grandfather's. I'll always have those two items.
I moved from a large house into a 696 sq ft two room condo. I left WAY more than I took. It was interesting to see what I valued.
The chest my great grandfather made for my grandmother. My sterling, china, and bed and table linens, which I use everyday. Five pieces of art, mainly my largest pieces. Cherry Ethan Allen furniture that was in my room as a child. It was originally a 12 piece suite. I took 6 pieces, and use the four chests and two toppers as a 123" hutch in the great room. My Henredon sofas, chairs, and ottomans. A 'birdcase' round end table, which was next to my mother's chair in her living room, and an end table that I bought off display, with my mother. When I told her how much I liked it, but it wasn't for sale, she replied, 'everything is for sale' and found a manager. We carried out my new purchase. A Wildwood Budda lamp, and my Henredon red lacquered desk with two chairs. And my mother's dressing table.
When I was in college, I bought my first 'furniture'. My husband called it my road work furniture. It is plastic, and basically two cones intersect, one up, one down, with a top that pops on. It was meant to be a table with four stools, but one stool had been lost. I bought the set, with a missing stool, for cheap. It has been with me ever since. I have used it in various ways, the table as a bedside table, the stools as sofa tables, and today, I am still using them. The table is draped, and is currently a bedside table. The three stools are currently being used as 1) one is in the shower, 2) one is under the tower fan for the summer, and 3) roams as is needed. Yesterday, I used it in the bathroom to clean up an overflowing toilet. Hey, it's plastic. A good Lysol bath, and it's good to go.
My most prized possession is a signet ring my great grandfather gave my grandmother. I have worn it since her death, and it will be taken off my . . . . well you know the rest.
There is actually nothing I would get rid of in our apartment. If we move back to our house in our hometown (which is half the size of our apartment), I would put anything I couldn't fit in the attic and rotate all my cool stuff!
Cannot live without, however:
Couch (3 seater + chaise, insanely comfy)
Bed (Design Mobel slat with Latex mattress, most comfortable bed ever)
My Bio-mag. I am an achey person.
My laptop (I got home last night and discovered our bunny had chewed the cable to our ADSL. Freaked out and had traipsed the streets of Wellington looking for somewhere that sold Phone cables that was still open at 6.30pm, nerd much?!)
My husband :P
Once upon a time, many years ago, I lived in NYC and one December morning I left for work only to have phone messages from my roommate waiting for me when I got to the office. Our high-rise building on the UWS was on fire (this was the fire caused by MacCauly Caulkin's family - several people died).
The only thing I cared about was the safety of my dog. That was it. Clothes, family heirlooms, electronics were the farthest things from my mind. My dog. My baby. He was ok. Everything was ok.
There are a few things that have meaning to me. My late grandmother's old cookie jar and my late aunt's glass chicken. I keep both of them on my kitchen counter. There is also a painting my husband and I recieved as a gift for our wedding, it's kind of our own new family heirloom. I'd also swipe the back up hard drive for our mac. It better be a slow growing fire! Other than photos and those few family things, I could care less about the rest, let it all burn. Obviously I've worked hard decorating and collecting the right peices of furniture and art, but I've never grown strong attachments to things. It's just stuff, you can buy more.
I've actually been in an apartment that was on fire, courtesy of the neglectful neighbor upstairs. I grabbed my wallet, keys and pets and was in my pajamas at the time.
(FYI - no one notices when you leave a burning building without clothes.)
That said, I don't have many sentimental things that couldn't be replaced. There's a lot of things I like, but they could all be replaced.
I have moved all over the US and abroad, sold pretty much all of my furniture and have replaced my kitchen items, and lived out of two suitcases at one point, but I will never part with my framed photos. I have one of me and my dad that is still in the frame he gave it to me in when I was 3.
I have a few pieces of jewerly and several watches worth monetary value that are easy to grab in a rush. Other than that there is nothing I have that I couldn't live without. This all from downsizing from a house, to larger condo, then finally to the small condo I live in now. At this point, I don't care for "things" much.
This is a hard one. Most of my too much stuff came thru family someway. I guess though I'd have to say the piano that takes up too much space in a little home. It was bought by my Sweetie when we had little money, he learned to play it and taught me about jazz on it, and the hours he spent with it every day kept him from finishing the house before he died. I might even learn to play it one day.
For the burning house scenario, has to be the cat.
My art collection, including the handbound books, from artists such as Edy Pickens, Britton Derby, Pamela Chavez, and Marilu Derby, among others. Those items are irreplaceable.
The spinning wheel my boyfriend made me. So special.
Last summer there was a huge gas leak in my street and we had to evacuate it. I took my wallet, my phone, my laptop and my cat.
My grandfather's paintings. All of the art in our house was painted by my grandfather, a retired college art professor. Some of these paintings were in my house or my grandparents growing up and others were gifts when we moved into this house. No house is home for me until Grandpa's art is on the walls.
Ok I use to live in place called La Conchita, CA & it was a condemned area due to past mudslides. So I always had a mental list of what I'd take if we had to leave due to heavy rains.
My list today is:
Hubby
Doggies
Nook Color
iPhone
Laptop (mini)
Everything else is replaceable!
After all our moves we really embrace that concept!
While there are many things in my house that I love, the main things I would take after making sure my cat was out are my camera & laptop and a chair that belonged to my great-great grandmother and was the chair my grandfather often sat in to read. It's not the nicest thing I own but it is definitely the most sentimental to me.
Coming from an Army family I managed to not get attached to items. Albeit I love everything that I have and give myself mental fist bumps whenever people admire my cabin, I'd let it all burn simply because I enjoy starting over. I moved to Alaska with 2 suitcases and a box of music and pictures. As long as I have my passport and a memory stick with pictures from my travels I'll be fine.
First and foremost: my cat, my dog and my turtle (Assuming my husband would save himself).
After that: my 1974 Ovation acoustic guitar. I got it from my mom's side of the family, and it's probably worth more than most of my possessions. It has better sound than any other guitar I have ever heard.
My late grandmother's (Dad's mom) sewing machine. It's a foot-propelled Singer made in 1887. It's the full antique table kind that we cleaned up when we took it out of her basement when she was moving into a smaller space. The only problem: it weighs probably 200 lbs. It currently resides at my mom's house until I have the space to take it. It is absolutely gorgeous, and it works!
My "concert album". I have collected my ticket stubs since 1969 - great notations such as playlists, etc. (Rolling Stones for $3.50 general admission - oh yeah!) My Kiyoshi Saito woodblocks - plus my MacBook.
The dog and the laptop. In that order. (also assumming my husband would save himself)
The dog is my best bud, and the laptop would have all of our records--and photos--that would help us re-start our lives.
The rest is just "stuff".
I wouldn't risk my life trying to save a bunch of stuff. I'd get out of there as quickly as possible with only my cat in tow. Material items can always be replaced. Life cannot.
My ATM card, phone and my kitties are what I would grab if there was a fire.
But the things I never move without (and I have sold literally everything I own twice now - except these things): My mokka pot, my teeny tiny family of trouble dollies and a small glass prism.
Our Quan Yin. It used to be in my mother's house; whenever we moved when I was a kid, the place felt like home once the Quan Yin had her corner.
Five years ago my mother downsized and passed the Quan Yin onto me. She is about 5 feet tall and now has her corner of honor by our front door. She has made it even more our home.
When I bought my condo the thing I insisted on was having a washer and dryer in the unit. The things in my place that I love...
1. My cat
2. My laptop
3. My gothic arch mirror
4. Throw pillow made from an old Fender tshirt
5. Darth Tater
1. My Kids
2. My Husband
3. My Dog
4. My Laptop
5. My Books
I love the "Healthy Body Sick Mind" Op Ivy poster!!! Where did you get this?
1) Things aren't memories
2) Part of the fun of having nice things is finding them.
Computer and wallet aside, I would run out of here with...not.a.single.thing. I try do that whole non-attachment thing. Hmm, must be kinda working.
My wife. It's just not home without her. And I don't mean that to sound like she's an object. She's the finest person I know, and I am blessed, honored, and humbled to be married to her.
My partner is a given, so from most to least important:
1. my cats (I keep their carriers under the bed in case of emergency)
2. my laptop (seems to be at the top of several lists. As a grad student, I can't live without it)
3. my teak dining table that extends to 10 feet (Our first "grown-up" furniture purchase and I hope it will be with us forever! The chairs are replaceable)
4. My grandmother's embroidery box that her teacher gave to her in 1935
5. My chef's knife, though that's easily replaceable.
Hula Hoops! A nightmare to store. At the moment I have ~30 of them hanging on bike-racks on the walls of the garage but I'm about to move into a small apartment with no such space, nightmare! I'm thinking of drastic solutions like bungee-cording them to the ceiling!
My bed. It's seven foot long and the reason my super tall boyfriend and I can share a bed without any grumps. It was also the fact that I (an average height girl) had this king size super long bed that caused our mutual friend to jokingly set up a blind date. So it's super sentimental and super functional! It's coming with us wherever we go.
here's a really blurry picture of the bed. Excuse the mess!
In an emergency, all loved ones, the guinea pig & a hideous (but I love it) Bavarian vase of my great-great grandmother's.
In a regular move, all of the above & probably my hand-me-down dresser. It was my grandparents' from a complete '60s bedroom set. It weighs a ton & has so many dings, but is has survived many moves & flights of stairs officially growing on me.
As long as my husband made it out of the house, I don't care if everything else burned. He's what makes my house a home.
i'm assuming my husband would grab me first, so i'd grab our dog, antique carved chinese box, laptop. hubby would have to carry either me holding everything, or we'd each take stuff
The photo albums of my kids.
I can't live without my family pictures and my passport. The pictures will keep me grounded and the passport will set me free.
Art. Color. Plants.
Assuming my boyfriend grabbed wallets & phones, I would only take my (small) jewelry box and crystal candy dish. I'm very sentimental about jewelry, and I have several pieces that mean a great deal to me--mom's wedding earrings, grandma's rings. The crystal dish is an antique family heirloom. I think I would be killed if I didn't grab it :)
Dog. Cat. Keychain with thumb drive. Wallet with passport.
(And I'd hope that my iron bedstead, a wedding gift from my paternal greatgrandmother to my grandmother, as well the iron skillets I got from my maternal grandmother all survived the blaze!)