FineCraft Contractors, Inc. is proud to learn that on January 4, 2025, we were hand-picked by one of Houzz’s writers to be featured in an editorial ideabook on their homepage.
Here is the piece, written by Elena Vega:
Whether you have a full house, visiting folks who like to stay the night or kids of any age, a backyard cottage is your friend. Not only does it offer breathing room and privacy, but it has the feel of a getaway, even if it’s just a stone’s throw from the main house. All the better if it’s flexible enough to serve multiple purposes.
The four outbuildings below — whether you call them guesthouses, studios, accessory dwelling units or something else — offer lots of ideas on how to incorporate spaces for working, playing, sleeping and eating in a small footprint without creating a tight squeeze. Have a look, and if you have a backyard cottage of your own, please tell us about it in the Comments.
1. Family Plan
Cottage at a Glance
Who lives here: A blended family of six
Location: Arlington, Virginia
Size: 513 square feet (48 square meters)
Designers: Harrison Design (architecture) and Erica Peale Design (interior design)
Contractor: Dasha Cunningham of FineCraft Contractors
When you have four kids in the family, extra space is a blessing. Inspired by neighbors, these Virginia homeowners hired architecture firm Harrison Design to build a backyard cottage where their newly blended family of six could hang out and entertain friends and relatives and where overnight guests could sleep. Then a loft and a workspace joined the fun, and this little home right near the main home was complete.
Using Houzz ideabooks to share ideas, interior designer Erica Peale helped the homeowners choose finishes, lighting and furniture to give the interior a modern mountain look. Slate floor tiles ground the design with their rugged vibe and subtle color variations. Leather upholstery and a cowhide wall hanging feel right in sync. A wood-and-glass coffee table offers a fetching counterpoint with its modern silhouette.
The white sofa seen here pulls out to a king-size bed, and there’s another bed up in the loft (above the workspace window).
The cottage has a mini-split system for cooling and heating so the temperature can stay just right all year round.
Space maximizers: Lofted bed, pullout couch, slender work desk, no kitchen
Read more about this project