Yesterday we asked you about determining when a collection becomes a collection — but what happens when a habit goes from fun to overwhelming? Where do you draw the line? Do you purchase storage space for part of your goods — or construct a whole new building for them? It always seems to start out so small and harmless…
The photo above shows a small portion of Fred Stoke's oil can collection. You can actually go visit him and take a peek, but he's taken a small collection and branched out into something monsterous. First there was oil cans, now there's automotive memorabilia of all sorts and Fred's even bought and restored an old gas station right on his property.
So at what point do your collecting habits go from picking up a few pieces here and there to needing additional buildings to hold your wares? When do you say enough is enough in your own home? Do you keep things restricted to a single shelf? Allow yourself to pack away a few boxes to rotate throughout the year? Let us know in the comments below!
Image: Flickr member Northbaywanderer licensed for use by Creative Commons
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this would be considered "crazy". when you need a separate room to showcase your goodies.....it has gone too far (in my opinion).
If this is just for personal viewing then I would classify him as an organized hoarder.
OCD or joie de vivre? I think the oil can collection is fun and beautiful even though this is something I would never collect.
I think it moves to crazy when the "stuff" of your collection starts to affect your quality of life in a bad way.
Examples:
1. Owning even four or five of something (expensive), but you can't pay the bills or buy food.
2. When the stuff starts to crowd you out and you can't navigate. If you can afford storage or a new home for it, fine. Own a giant warehouse if you can afford it. It's all good until you can't move around.
3. When you buy stuff just because it's part of the collection. Many people collect star wars junk. Most people do not buy the Jar Jar Binks garbage. If you hate Jar Jar, but buy his crap, it's out of control. You should like every piece.
If your collection gets big enough, like the oil cans, you might consider moving it to a more public place to show it off. Make a museum or have some sort of store. Your favorite hobby might just support itself or even become your livelihood and you could maybe quit your other job. Cool!
I think that oil can collection is awesome. It is obviously very well loved and immaculately displayed. To me it's a lot more of an issue if you are just buying tons of stuff and tossing it here and there and not really caring for it. Collections sitting in boxes or just creating clutter are a crying shame.
crazy
When you need more than one wall of shelving to display the collection is when it has gotten way out of hand.
I had a friend that collected beer cans and his basement looked like the photo above. It was a great space to hang out in and there was so much to look at. The variety of his collection was very interesting.
I wonder if he's got the Hello Kitty 5W30 oil can?
I respect that the oil cans in Mr. Stokes' collection are so well organized. Having "control" over something - whether it's oil cans, last year's magazines, shoes or recycling - curbs the crazy.
Intriguing. If they were in a lump in the middle of the floor, covered with dust, we'd be seeing them on an episode of "Hoarders" and not on Apartment Therapy.
This belongs in the auto section of the House on the Rock.
Besides the fact that he's collecting oil cans (never heard of it, but whatever), it looks like he's gone over the edge a bit. Do you really need 3-4+ cans of every brand of oil? Why not just one of each? Organized hoarding for sure.
As a non-American, my first thought was "Oh my, that's like living in a food store". Never heard of oil cans before and have to agree with HoneyPeanuts in their comment re: amount of similar cans; why not keep it down to only one per type? In preparing for disasters, I would have understood the second purpose of this collection - a food reserve - if they were indeed food cans, but hrm, well...
@krister: control can also be a sign of serious crazy.
When it starts to dictate its own rules. Example: if you have a small tasteful collection, you can display it in accordance with the style of your home. If you have a huge c-r-a-z-y collection, it will require special shelving, showcases, or its own room. And so on.
I'll turn in back on you, AT: what about people that have an inordinate amount of media? People that line the walls of all of the rooms in their home with books are called "readers". People that have a floor-to-ceiling collection of DVDs are called movie lovers. People that won't recycle a single copy of Dwell are called eccentric :) But seriously-why does this discussion only apply to people that collect vignettes and oil cans? How can we consider calling those folks crazy and consider the aforementioned media hoarders (of which I am one :D) normal? Is there really a difference? Isn't it all stuff you love cluttering up the house?
I think most of these comments are pretty damn judgmental. What about people with books they never read or movies they never watch? We don't gasp when someone has 11 foot tall bookcases covered 5 walls of his or her house full of paper encased in cardboard that they haven't picked up in years but feel the need to keep.
I'm sure this man loves each and every one of those cans and gets an equal but different kind of satisfaction from organizing, cleaning, and displaying them as others get from watching movies and reading books.
Sorry, AT, but I find this post offensive and judgmental. What the man collects and whether it's "crazy" is absolutely none of your business. This post sounds like nothing but gossip.
oh will these posters grow up? he has more than one of everything because those things are RARE! and whenever you find a rare collectable in good shape buy it!
One man's trash is another man's treasure.
As long as you don't deserve an episode of "Hoarders" it's all up to you. I think the obsessive compulsive psychological dependence on having Things is an illness ("crazy" if you prefer) but I'm not so sure you can easily tell who falls into that category. Just enjoying collections doesn't necessarily equate.
The amount of time he spent acquiring and organizing the pieces in his collection is probably better spent than the time we are spending commenting on it.
If you need a whole new space for your collection, or if your whole house is so full if you have no room for anything else, that's a problem.
Big Tab is right. If you have more than one chair and one pair of underwear, you're technically a hoarder... It's all about degrees...
Yeah, to some degree,we're all judgemental. We just love to point to someone crazier than ourselves. I can't throw away a newspaper without reading it, even if it's 6 months later. My rationale is, "it's not news, but its still information." So, I don't buy the paper that often. Books are another weakness,but I keep them under control, in bookcases. Some, I've read more than once.
I think it's our interest & quirks that make us all interesting & different.
When I first saw this I did think of "Hoarders" but only because there was a man who had a similarly large collection of beer cans on the show and organization nearly identical to this was their solution for the oversized collection he wouldn't let go of.
Whoever owns the collection pictured, clearly cares for it and probably loves it so more power to 'em. I don't think people would be so quick to judge if those cans were Picassos.
One thing to think about is this: In order to truly appreciate a thing, one needs to have a certain level of knowledge about the thing in question. I am no expert on oil cans, but I would imagine many of these are extremely rare and valuable. Also, they are very interesting and beautiful in terms of their graphic quality and history. I do know that certain empty beer cans can sell for tens of thousands of dollars each, and I would imagine the same is true of oil cans. All these small-minded, judgmental comments from people who don't know the first thing about what they are talking about. Agreed, if one is collecting something and just piling it up without any organization or thought; If the collection gets in the way of living, then it's a problem. In this example though, Mr. Stoke has done a tremendous job at preserving a piece of social history and should be commended. He obviously has a passion for what he is doing and this passion adds to the quality of his life as well as the quality of our lives when we have an opportunity to experience what he has lovingly preserved and created. Those who have no passion in life often mock those who do. Instead of calling Mr. Stoke crazy, how about working on being a secure enough individual that you will follow your bliss whether or not mainstream society gives it it's seal of approval? Bravo, Mr. Stoke!