Small Wonders
A California couple revamped their backyard into a lushly landscaped oasis complete with a half-dozen tiny houses to suit their varied interests.
California homeowners design a lushly landscaped oasis in their backyard, complete with gardens and a half-dozen tiny outbuildings to suit their diverse interests.
From childhood treehouses
and backyard playhouses to grown-up man caves and she sheds, people love to create small spaces to call their own. Kay and Pat Thomsen have taken that concept a bit further than most—filling their Orange, California, backyard with a half-dozen diminutive dwellings.
Two of the outbuildings were there when the couple moved in seven years ago, and Pat, a retired homebuilder, designed and built the rest. Though they share some characteristics (all have cupolas and include white trim on their exteriors), Pat made a point to give each one a distinctive look. “I wanted to make them all different—I didn’t want them to look like tract houses,” he explains.
He started with a gray cottage that overhangs the swimming pool. “I put it by the pool so I would have waterfront property,” Pat says of the building, which serves as his art studio. He often retreats there to create artistic drawings. “It gives me a place to go and draw, and when I get done, I can leave it as is, with all my pencils out.”
While Pat’s favorite place is his art studio, Kay gravitates toward the barn-style tearoom, where she enjoys entertaining friends or reading. She also enjoys the garden room—a light-filled structure that features windows on three sides and French doors on the fourth.
Pat also built an aviary for the couple’s many feathered friends, which include parakeets, finches, quail and a cockatiel. The couple had an aviary at their previous home and wanted a similar, but smaller, setup at this house.
Both Kay and Pat enjoy gardening, and even the shed where they store tools and supplies has a charming countenance, thanks to trim and a cupola that coordinate with the other tiny houses. The shed and the green “fishing cabin” were the two original structures. The fishing cabin is situated near a koi pod, which inspired themed elements such as fishing poles, creels, lures and fishingrelated artwork.
Though Pat is behind the design of the buildings themselves, Kay contributed all the interior and exterior decor, selecting paint colors and picking up furnishings and accents at bargain prices by shopping local garage sales. “I’ve had fun hunting for all the treasures,” Kay says, noting that the tiny buildings’ whimsical decorations are a departure from the antiques that adorn the couple’s main residence.
Surrounded by beautiful gardens and container plantings linked by flagstone walkways and outdoor seating areas, the cluster of bitty buildings has landed the quarter-acre property on several area garden tours. “They like the landscaping, but mostly they comment on the houses,” says Pat of visitors’ typical reactions. “Some people might have one little house, but we have a lot, so it’s pretty unique.”