The holiday decorations inside this Durham home will leave you breathless

Carson, a pharmacist by day, loves Christmas decorations. Each year, he takes an entire week off work to turn the downstairs of his home into a wonderland.

For the past five years, Carson has welcomed his neighbors, friends, family and coworkers into his home to enjoy his masterpiece. He's even opened his house to all the members from his local gym.

"It always catches people by surprise," he said. "It's essentially just a way to open my front door and really spread holiday cheer."

For some of the larger decorations, Carson looks to artists or his woodworking uncle for help. He shops for the other decorations, buying many during after-Christmas sales. He does all the decorating himself -- which involves trimming trees, building and painting displays and, this year, making 48 bows by hand.

Each year, Carson selects five different themes for each of his downstairs rooms. From whimsical and silly to elegant and traditional, there's something for everyone.

At the end of the season, he'll neatly pack up everything in storage boxes, sorting it by theme and color. That way, he can reuse the decorations year after year even as his rooms change.

The project starts the first week of October, when Carson begins what he calls "basing." He'll use his vacation time to move furniture, pull down the boxes he needs, set up the Christmas trees and garland and hang lights. The next week, the fun part begins. All-in-all, the finished project takes two weeks total.

"My friends will text me asking, 'Do you need lunch or dinner? Starbucks?,'" Carson laughed. "It just really allows me to release my creative side. As a pharmacist, I'm analytical driven, but I have a lot of creative bones in my body, so this is my release."

This year, only Carson's parents, who will travel to Durham from West Virginia to spend Christmas with him, and a small number of friends will see the decorations in person. He hopes that, by starting a new tradition of sharing his home on social media, his decorations will bring joy to more people than ever this year.

There's also a beautiful snow-inspired room and a model of Santa's workshop.