What would you save?

I read an excellent post on Sarah Rooftops while I was away, about the 3 things from each room she would save in the event of a disaster befalling her flat.  And when my suitcase went missing on the way home from Johannesburg, I was prompted to think more carefully about what is important and precious to me.  Luckily my case and it's contents made it back to me unscathed a few days later, but in the meantime I had been trying to wrap my head around the prospect that my favourite dress or my perfect jeans or the lovely photographic prints I had bought in Cape Town might be gone for good. 

Because my house is quite big, I didn't do three things from each room (we would be here all night if I had), instead choosing one thing from each room plus one extra in my front room.  You will no doubt sense the theme that develops...

Front Room

1. Stained glass window.  I might have a job taking this out in an emergency (although you will see by the light around the edge that I still haven't putty-ed it into place), but this stained glass window over my front door is very special to me.  Designed and made by my step-mother, my mum's partner Andrea, it is something totally unique and represents an enormous amount of work on her part.  I was very touched when she made it for me.

2. Pinecone.  Knysna, a small town on the South African coast, is where my grandfather was born in 1920, and I picked this pinecone up from the floor of Knysna forest when I was mountain biking there in 2001.  It's one of those silly little things that is completely worthless and completely priceless at the same time.

Living Room

Photograph on canvas of my grandpa.  Of course, I would rush to save all my photographs, but this one is special for a couple of reasons.  Obviously because it's a photo of Theo, taken just before he was banned by the apartheid government and forced into exile, but also because it was a thirtieth birthday present from my then-best friend.  We don't talk anymore, but it's still a precious reminder of our friendship.

Kitchen

Roberts DAB radio.  And, erm, while I'm at it can I save everything else on the shelf please?  I love my duck egg blue radio, which is permanently tuned to 6 Music.  But I also love all my bits and pieces in jars, the amazing vintage scales that Andrea found when clearing a neighbour's house after her death, my Cathy K flour shaker, my first ever homemade bunting, my lovely What Katie Did 'Food' print... in the event of fire I'd sweep everything into a box and take the whole lot.

Bedroom

Chair.  This somewhat battered nursing chair was an antique when my grandpa bought it for my granny when she was pregnant with my uncle in 1946, so goodness knows how old it is now.  It survived the trip to England in the 1970s and my grandpa reupholstered it.  A few years later it was passed on to my parents and when my mum sold my childhood home and had a clear out, I took it on. 

I love having something with a bit of family history to it - fairly rare when your parents are immigrants - and it has lived happily in my bedroom ever since, nestled between my wardrobe and the window, and usually with a pile of books in residence.







Spare bedroom

Mirror.  I am ashamed of what a state this mirror is in, you don't need to look too closely to this photo to see how damaged the bottom of the frame is.  To be fair, this mirror has moved house with me no fewer than thirteen times.  It was a gift from my grandparents when I was about 11, and I felt so grown up having a 'proper' mirror.  Bought at auction and then painstakingly restored by my grandpa (do you see the pattern emerging...?), is is a lovely old piece that has fallen off more walls than I care to remember (hence the damage).  One of these days I am going to have it properly fixed up, but until then it would definitely be top of the list for saving.

So what would be the first things you would save?