Emily Davies/Daily Mail Online wrote:A museum curator has spent £20,000 on a massive collection of SMURFS - and has dedicated an entire room in her house to creating a smurf shrine.
Obsessed Karen Bell, 37, saved up her pocket money with her best friend to buy her first toy at the age of six, and now has 4,482 figures and memorabilia.
She said: 'I was only a little girl when I started collecting smurfs with my best friend, but whereas she stopped collecting when she got older, I just carried on.
'And now, 30 years down the line, I've got a room for them in my house.'
Karen Bell has turned her spare bedroom into a showroom for her thousands of smurf toys
Karen, from Ayrshire, Scotland, battled to convince her long-suffering husband Brian, 36, to convert their spare room into a showroom for her expanding collection.
She said: 'My husband and I met at university, but he didn't realise how much I loved smurfs until I came home one day with bags and bags full of memorabilia.
'He asked me why I'd wasted my money on it but he soon realised how happy it made me.
'I know he still thinks its a bit strange, but I think he's quite impressed too.
'And it's great that he's finally agreed to letting me have the spare room for my collection - although he wouldn't let me paint it blue.
That was a good show; later on, there was a huge ska band with half the members dressed as ninjas & the other half dressed as pirates.
