A Christmas lover has transformed her home into a giant gingerbread house

A Christmas lover has transformed her home into a giant gingerbread house, weeks ahead of the big day. 

Carmen Croxall, 34, spent two weeks decorating the front of her rented home in Exeter. 

She said that end results are ‘next level’, having decorated the property several times in the last 18 months.  

The latest design is complete with biscuit window frames, candy canes and gingerbread men.

Carmen (pictured) who owns Prop Factory has decorated her rented home in Exeter several times over the past 18 months 

Carmen, who runs a props business, says around 70 per cent of the house is made from recycled materials.

She said: ‘I love decorating my house!

‘It all started in 2020 – I had an events company and have dressed events for eight years but, after nine months of not doing it, I had a huge void.’

At this time, the business changed and they started selling products. 

Carmen, owner of the Prop Factory, had also just sold her house and was due to move out. 

She said: ‘So those three things led to my first crazy transformation.

The house has been designed to look like a giant gingerbread house. It took Carmen two full weeks to complete its transformation

The lollipop sticks are made from wooden dowel offcuts and an old drainage pipe and the pink icing is fabric leftover from a previous project and ball pit balls 

‘My new landlord said I could decorate so I did my whole house for Halloween and last Christmas, I did a pink kitsch theme with a festive Tyrannosaurus Rex outside.

‘Now, I’ve gone next level!’

The fake brickwork on Carmen’s gingerbread house is made from water-resistant MDF and the chocolates are old milk cartons covered in cellophane.

Her lollipop sticks are made from wooden dowel offcuts and an old drainage pipe and the pink icing is fabric leftover from a previous project and ball pit balls.

It was a combination of three factors that prompted Carmen to get creative in 2020 – selling her old house, not working on projects for nine months and the company’s introduction of selling props

Carmen put colourful cellophane over old milk cartons for the Quality Street chocolates and stuck everything on with heavy duty velcro

Carmen finished the house over the weekend, and although the wet weather has proved to be a big test to how durable her decorations are, she believes the gingerbread house this year is her best project yet.

 She explained: ‘The brick mortar is the fabric I used last year on my Halloween ceiling, cut into strips and sewn into twisted tubes, and the snow is made from wadding.

‘I put colourful cellophane over old milk cartons for the Quality Street chocolates but had to add clear cellophane over the top as the colourful sheets leaked in the rain.

‘It’s all stuck on with very heavy duty velcro – each brick has enough velcro to hold up 28kg!’

The brick mortar is the fabric she used last year on her Halloween ceiling, cut into strips and sewn into twisted tubes, and the snow is made from wadding

Carmen is really excited about her Christmas house but can’t help herself thinking of what she will be doing next 

The prop expert tested the theory for a few months prior to creating her Christmas house, and found it worked if the brick work behind the velcro didn’t get wet. 

To ensure this, Carmen covered the whole house so water couldn’t get to the real bricks and she used an air compressed staple gun to make a lattice between bricks.  

‘It went from an idea to a finished thing in just two weeks. I was in this zone where I was so focused on finishing it that I didn’t even appreciate it until it was done.

‘I love it, I’m really happy with how it looks – but now that it’s done, I’m already thinking about what I can do next!’