SELFIE-OBSESSED
I transformed rental into £25k Christmas ‘selfie land’ – neighbours call me ‘disrespectful’ but cars queue to visit
A designer is opening up her 'bigger and better' festive spectacle
A MUM has transformed a warehouse she rents into a £25,000 Christmas "selfie land" - defying neighbours who call her "disrespectful" as cars queue to visit.
Dedicated crafter Carmen Croxall has gone viral for eye-catching exhibits at her real-life gingerbread house in Exeter in Devon.
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These have included sweets-themed Valentine's Day displays and festive spectacles.
Now Carmen has vowed to go even bigger and better this winter - opening up a decorative warehouse she calls "Christmas SelfieLand".
The mum-of-two, 36, has created a snowy Narnia-style enchanted forest as well as a "toy town" filled with giant nutcrackers.
That features a towering Christmas tree made from toys, while she has also fashioned a North Pole-esque post office.
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The festive photo-op spot cost her £25,000 - and took Carmen and her supporting team of 40 people 14 weeks to complete.
She was motivated to create the spectacle after her home transformation last Christmas attracted hordes of onlookers.
She said: "People used my house to take photos so much last year – at one point there were six cars queued up outside with their windows down and phones out.
"As so many people came to visit it last year, I was inspired to build a Christmas SelfieLand at my warehouse down the road.
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"Twenty Christmas-themed photo opportunities - I felt like there was a massive demand for it."
Carmen, who runs prop-making company The Prop Factory, has opened up her warehouse to the public for the festive season.
It features 20 so-called "selfie stations" spread across two floors, where visitors can take photos of themselves against the displays.
These include what she's dubbed the Chocolate Factory Gates, a Giant Gingerbread House, Candy Corner, a "Gonk Gathering" and a "make believe machine" fashioned out of recycled industrial scrap materials.
People said I was disrespectful to my landlord, but I did ask his permission
Carmen Croxall
Yet she is steeled for potential criticism, after facing flak for her Christmas displays this time last year.
Carmen, who is mum to four-year-old Arlo and a teenage son, said: "My neighbour’s landlord – not even mine – drove past when I was up a ladder and shouted at me saying he didn't like it.
"Other than that, so many people loved it.
"Of course, there were negative comments online, including one saying I'd ruined the house.
"As it is rented, people on TikTok said I was disrespectful to my landlord, but I did ask his permission and he saw it in person when he came to do the annual gas safety check."
A TikTok video sharing her transformation of the property into a gingerbread house has been watched almost 600,000 times and received 69,000 "likes" as well as hundreds of comments from fans.
But she is restricting the Christmas decorations this year to her nearby warehouse rather than the home itself.
She said of last year's efforts: "It was time that was the biggest cost.
"In terms of materials, it cost around £600 - about 70 per cent was made of recycled materials and any new materials I'll be using again in future projects.
"I have used so much energy this year building SelfieLand that I won't be decorating my house this year."
Carmen previously produced a 17ft-tall Love Hearts tower for Valentine's Day as well as adding interior quirks including grass stairs.
She shared a 13-second reel outlining how she crafted the tower.
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She has also given her garden a Latino-inspired makeover.
And her kitchen features a doughnut-style cupboard with a pink background and sprinkles, Rugrats biscuit tins and X-rated magnets.
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