Before furniture was cheap and plentiful, it used to represent family wealth. To inherit one’s parents’ furnishings was similar, if not equivalent, to inheriting an investment portfolio. Status was maintained as each successive generation was able to preserve the family heirlooms; it was lost if those heirlooms were lost.
This is where we got our now-ill-fitting reluctance to discard furniture, even if we already have plenty, and it’s also an ingredient in the pain of having to abandon or sell items when moving to a smaller home. To leave behind the excess couches and sideboards and desks and sewing cabinets was, historically, a tragic loss of face, not a blessed freedom from encumbrance.
If you must downsize, you can treat it like your own personal Trail of Tears and mourn the impossibility of carrying your accumulated wealth on your back. Or, you can treat it like your own personal Yellow Brick Road and celebrate the ease of carrying your accumulated wealth in your head and heart.
