A woman has transformed her home into a giant chocolate house for Easter. Carmen Croxall decorated her house with ‘chocolate bricks’, 12 huge daffodils, a picket fence and an Easter bunny.
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The 35-year-old spent £900 and five weeks transforming her rented home, and it isn’t the first time she’s done it. The mum-of-two is known for transforming her property for special occasions. Last Christmas, she turned her home into a gingerbread house and for Valentine’s Day created a love heart display.
The project, made from mostly recycled materials or purchases from local businesses, cost her £898.50. Carmen, owner of the Prop Factory, from Exeter, Devon, started to plan her Easter house three months ago but spent five weeks making and installing the chocolate house.
She made TikToks on her account clashcreativehome about how she carried out the Easter project with some videos reaching almost a million views.
She printed 200 chocolate squares, Easter eggs and the 5ft chocolate bunny on MDF costing £320 and bought £5 scrap foil packaging to decorate the roof of her house.
Her giant daffodils cost £212.50 in total and are made from a plastic jug, electrical wire, yellow polyester lining fabric and nylon, duct tape, reused cushion stuffing, pipe cleaner and garden wire for the leaves.
She created a picket fence around her garden using old bed slats and pallet wood for £120.
Carmen tries to use recycled materials where she can – using off-cuts from previous projects to save on the cost.
“This time round I knew technically three months in advance I was going to do it so I had more time to think about ideas. It took five solid weeks to make everything.
"However, I spent more time on the things I plan to keep as a permanent fixture like the picket fence, and I made sure the daffodils were made really well too.
“Sewing the roof took five hours and making the daffodils took over a week. I repurpose as much of it again as possible.
“Also, a lot of my materials are bought second-hand or salvaged in the first place. My gingerbread house is going to a local shopping centre to be made into a carnival float, my love heart display is being made into a love heart wall in my office.”
Carmen says her neighbours have welcomed her wacky designs, however her teenage son doesn’t seem too impressed.
“The community as a whole is totally amazing. I often post in a community forum with updates, and everyone comments the most amazing things. It makes me so happy.
“My 13-year-old doesn’t like what I do to the house. He tends to stay in his room out the way, his windows are covered now by a huge sheet of tin foil, so he is well hidden.
“My three-year-old probably thinks everything I do is normal as it is all he has ever known, just me constantly decorating, painting and crafting.
"He loves helping me and is starting to pick up on things like the names of things I use like ‘cable ties’ and ‘pompoms'. He is very hands on and sits on my lap while I’m sewing, helping me guide the fabric and also loves painting.”
Exhausted from her projects, Carmen said she is worried about the “pressure” of creating something better and wants a “rest”. I feel maybe this might be the last extreme house transformation I’ll do.
“Firstly, because I’ve started to worry that whatever I do next might not be as good, and I think I will put so much pressure on myself to make it even better. I actually felt stressed for a few weeks creating the Easter house because of the pressure I created for myself.
“Making three themed house displays consecutively has meant there is a lot of tidying to be done. It's nice to go out with a bang."
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