Are collections chaos?

[Taxel]

Having collections everywhere to the degree of my pony room in my house would be visually overstimulating to me. and I loathe open shelving. Dust gives me issues. so seeing too much stuff and open shelves to me, I get itchy just thinking about it. My poor dude, first move in thing I asked for was taking down his open shelving (the kitchen seemed 1/3 bigger after!) and organizing stuff into closed storage. it was that or ask he pull everything down to dust weekly as I would do the rest of the house. Getting the stuff down and removing all those shelves I did get hives, even keeping up with my aerius allergy pills and still (lots of cats, dust mites, we live in a rain forest so tree pollen like crazy too. it ends up everywhere).

I feel you on open shelving! Thankfully it takes a lot to get my allergies to act up but in a way its kind of horrifying to see open shelving if I really let myself think about it. I've seen so many beautiful collection displays and pony/doll rooms with open shelving. I can appreciate how gorgeous they are, for sure. But then I keep looking and its like oh god, that's awful! There would be so much dust! Especially when people have huge collections and open shelving. I have no idea how anyone would be able to keep them all clean.

Dust can seriously damage things, even irreparably depending on what it is. I have a Barbie from childhood who was very special and more "collector" aimed. I was allowed to open her and play lightly sometimes but she was mostly restricted to the higher of the two open shelves on my wall. Her beautiful blonde updo? Its gray now, literally. Completely caked with dust. It doesn't come off because it settled into the product on her hair. I doubt it would ever come out. And dustrot with cloth stuff is a thing. Dust is a killer for collections.

To me, open shelving is the most chaotic type of collection. Its even worse than extreme overcrowding.

[Tak]

Dust <shudder> ew! I have not been able to convert all my shelving yet. My dad is retiring at the end of December and said he'd help build me some permanent enclosed shelving since I overflowed mine. 913 ponies as of this moment. That doesn't include duplicates accessories or playsets. I love my storage and have all unused or extras squirrled away in cupboards. Right now I just have to clean weekly. Luckily no allergies. We're at high risk for mold up here. The dust isn't nearly as bad as when we were in the high desert. As I said, I'm lucky. We have 1525 sq ft of house for my daughter, my 15 lb dog, and myself. The previous owner did a ton of work remodeling and I have so much storage. Plus, not allowed to drive so no car taking the garage. We're blessed. I also agree that it is a matter of perspective. What looks chaotic to one, may be calming and orderly to another. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I don't style my ponies much because I can't bear to change that riot of original curls. My comment on my interior design background helping make it aesthetically pleasing is to my personal aesthetics. I'm sure some would hate my color organization. They actually have a whole class on how to listen and interpret what design would be most pleasing to each particular 'client' and their unique situation. Everyone deserves to be comfortable in their own space. I believe everyone needs that space to maintain equilibrium. I'm sorry if I came off snobby at all, before or now. Words can be difficult to express meaning properly.

[JazzMatazz]

In my experience, the people who say things like that are usually striving to live life like it's Pinterest. Chaos keeps life interesting. But I really like to organize stuff.

I've known people who grew up as children in hording houses and their own places veer into the opposite direction. stark. spartan. Some people having things everywhere makes them feel intensely stressed, claustrophobic etc.

My folks never reached that point of hoarder of stacks and unwashed dishes, or garbage piled- but every surface had clutter, and closets were stuffed and finding something that was needed was "frustrating" lets say. the kids were tasked with retrieving things. In trouble when we didn't and another widget that was needed would be bought, shoved in a closet to be lost again. I silently seethed and dreamed of hauling 2/3 of that crap outside for a bonfire during my adolescence. This influenced how I like things. 

Having my own apartment and housing I was shocked, shocked, how easy it was to keep clean or find things. I am NOT a minimalist. I like the idea, but I do own backups of quality tools if I find another cheap, stock up my pantry with sales to the degree I could have had 5 kids living with me. As long as my closed storage I can find something easily, and it indeed saves me money in the long run I will stock up. I use little baskets and such in my closets so I just reach into the right one to grab my mittens, or sunglasses before walking out the door. I don't care if someone thinks it's too OCD, precious or pintresty. to me it looks orderly, and I find what I need immediately.

I'm that way, though I'm back to living with my parents but my own first apartment was spotless til I got really sick. Moved back home and now the majority of my stuff is in storage and I'm stuck feeling claustrophobic if I stay home too much. Piles of my mother's stuff everywhere I just wish I could donate/throw out 2/3rds of it.

[FantasticFirefly]

What looks chaotic to one, may be calming and orderly to another. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I don't style my ponies much because I can't bear to change that riot of original curls. My comment on my interior design background helping make it aesthetically pleasing is to my personal aesthetics. I'm sure some would hate my color organization. They actually have a whole class on how to listen and interpret what design would be most pleasing to each particular 'client' and their unique situation. Everyone deserves to be comfortable in their own space. I believe everyone needs that space to maintain equilibrium. I'm sorry if I came off snobby at all, before or now. Words can be difficult to express meaning properly.

1) I love original curls. Brings me back to the 80's, it might not be tame, a section may be in a random direction -adds to the charm.... heartbroken to see them removed in favour of perfectly uniform straw curls/ or flat ironed out. I've spent hours giving ponies their lost "hasbro style" curls back, or taking out a reseller's hair styling  (the photo is all hasbro! not my doing)visitors can't see pics , please register or login


2) I knew exactly what you meant. Informally I've been paid to help folks with colour selection, materials, shopping lists for furniture that would work and arranging what they had. it's so much fun to bring what someone wants and envisions, but can't quiet get to reality. It's usually not my personal taste for my own home either.   almost went into a program like that. I was an art student and did/helped with a lot of renovation work. perfect marriage.
they are better in the states though. OH's friend was trained in your state. much better quality education and they gave their students a MUCH better understanding of building materials and codes. LOTS of bad designers up here that don't think about use and clients needs. like poor fabric choices for a family who owns a Labrador dog making the drapes impossible to clean. or ultra flat can't wash paint in a home with sticky handed children touching the walls while they're learning to walk. Like "if looks good for all of a week = it's a success" yeah, not

I'm that way, though I'm back to living with my parents but my own first apartment was spotless til I got really sick. Moved back home and now the majority of my stuff is in storage and I'm stuck feeling claustrophobic if I stay home too much. Piles of my mother's stuff everywhere I just wish I could donate/throw out 2/3rds of it.

I fell in love with a clutterbug..... It's not instant perfection but I am trying my hardest at being patient. He'll do a wave that frees space. He recently cataloged all his books and purged boxes he will never read again, or were duplicates..... I have extra stuff stored too. going to see if I can trade my things( I realize I'll never have proper room for) in exchange for a couple nice bookcases *with doors* for him. that would be perfect. or nicer storage furniture for other stuff of ours.... slowly.

[DazzleKitty]

You can have an organized collection if you have the room, but mine is far from organized. I wish I had more room so I could be organized.

[brightberry]

I keep most of my collection stored away and out of sight.  I put the rest on shelves and then switch them out with the collection in storage.  I just can't stand the idea of dusting everything.  But some of it is ok.

I do know the feeling of being cramped by other people's stuff.  But normally when that happens it really is chaos and the room itself feels dark and cramped. 

[scarletjul]

I'm an organized collector, as much as space allows.  My ponies (and my dolls/DVDs/etc) all have a place to go and are usually put away.  If leave them out, they drive me nuts. 

That said, my closet is packed in one corner with bags of stuff that I don't have room for.  My garage has a corner that is overflowing with things to sell and donate.  I'd get rid of more, but I lack time and - more importantly - I lack a car.  If I had more of both, I'd be far more organized. 

[goddessofpeep]

It is possible to be an organized collector, but the bigger the collection, the harder it is.  Given enough money(for display and storage options) and space, any collection can look organized.  If you're low on either, things can quickly go to cluttered looking. 

I have a *tiny* pony room with weird shaped walls and a huge window which severely limits the places to put shelves. I have a *massive* collection.  The two don't go well together.  I can't display even 10% of my collection at any one time, and I kind of let the whole organization thing get away from me for several years.  I'm trying to fix that, but there's nothing in the world that's going to make that room look uncluttered.  Too much stuff + too little space = a whole lot to look at in that room.  It's not messy, and it's displayed attractively, but it can be overwhelming to look at.  And that's with things being pared down a lot.  I don't have my ponies lined up in tiers of little armies like a lot of collectors.  I do my best to balance having a lot on display with trying to keep the room from getting claustrophobic. 

[Beldarna]

My collection is very organized. Those and my books are the most organized things in my home. My home on the other hand is an organized chaos. It might look a mess sometimes but I know exactly where everything is.

[apanda0622]

Yes, collections can be organized.  I just started a toy room because most of my collection was in boxes.  I wanted to see and touch everything so I have open bookshelves.  I know dust is an issue, so I will have to clean them eventually. 

However, all the toys will not fit in the toy room, so some are in the hallway and bedroom.  They are on shelves and in cases so they are still "organized" but I could see someone not thinking that because the are not all in the toy room.

Anyways, my attempt to get all my collection out and displayed is to be organized about it

[alkevin]

Everything is chaos, just ask jeff goldblum.

[katrine2309]

Absolutely, collections can be organized!

Well, most of my ponies (except one or two - are in storage so it is easy for me to say!), but I do have other collections as well. Mostly more usable stuff though like china or books - but I don't like clutter at all. Not to say that my apartment is tidy - it is not. All my things do have their place, but they just not always find it. I also have a puppy, and she doesn't know what it means to clean up. I have shoes and mismatched socks all over my place - even in the bathroom! Puppy loves to hides her "steals" from me

Back to point; I actually think that many non-collectors look at collectors as messy because they confuse collectors with hoarders. To me, those 2 types of people are two very different things. Hoarders collect whatever, and never get rid of anything - whereas most collectors collect something very specific (be it ponies, postcards, stamps or china). Some collectors might have many different collections, others might have only one - but they all collect specific things. They just don't buy whatever and stuff in a drawer and forget about it. I actually think that most collectors are very organized, it might not show up in minimalistic homes - but most of us are very organized with our collections, be it displayed or in storage. If you collect it, you usually care about it - and will do your best to take care of it as well. It is most often far from chaos 

[Duenia]

My mom was totally a hoarder while I was growing up (she got it from her mom, it pretty much runs in my family to varying degrees of severity) - it was just contained to certain rooms, then a shed outside when it grew too much for in the house. I picked up some of her tendencies but I've always been really good at keeping it contained (at least when I felt like it). It was just a huge mess in the way it was contained. Like seriously - my closet was a puzzle only I could solve. Everyone was afraid of it because move one thing wrong and you might get hurt.

Once I started collecting I realized if I wanted to do it, with my limited space I'd have to start getting rid of other stuff. So I purged about 20 - 30% of the stuff I had stored in my apartment and her basement. The rest is all organized and sorted; since I can really only do this once a year when my family visits due to lack of transportation. There's also the fact that some of my things I'm looking for that will affect decisions are mixed in with my mom's mass heap which will take her years to get through. Since she's been alive longer, especially since she's had significantly longer where she's had sole control.

But because of collecting I have much less chaos. My collection is stored in my closet in numbered bins, with codes on their bubble wrap. Then I have a spreadsheet of information about each item and it's location. I'm working on turning this into a database with an awesome interface so it will be easier to use and maintain. The G4s and G2s that aren't stored are up on shelves. They're not set up the way I'd like them to be, but at least they're up there and out of the way. The G1s hang out on my book cases for now. Some of them will stay there others are awaiting being cleaned and put away.

So at least in my case collecting has actually curbed chaos - thankfully before things got way out of hand.

[Vintageg2]

I still live with my mom so I only have my bedroom where I can store my ponies. Since I also collect a lot of MIB G2's they do take a lot of space. Currently, I am keeping 90% in boxes because I don't have room to put them somewhere else except in my 2 cabinets... 
I hope that when I do move out I can have a pony room to put them in.

[Tap Dancer]

I haven't been a collector for years. As some of you might remember, I closed my website and donated most of my toys years ago. I didn't keep much and what I have is tucked away in a chest in my closet. Clutter really bothers me, so my room is pretty bare. Other people's clutter doesn't bother me; I just don't want it in my personal space. As long as it's organized and not thrown in a dusty, messy pile, I wouldn't call a collection "chaos."