Can we have NPC's as decorations, or furnishings, for our houses?

I would love to have a cook standing in the kitchen, a guide near the door way, a worker in the yard, palm leaf girl outside under a tree, etc.

We already have the ability to place and move NPCs within our house. It would seem like a simple-enough task to make other varieties to simply place around the house or on the grounds without the mechanics of interaction. I know many people like different races and genders so I wonder if it would be easier to make a variety of them, or simply make them customizable with race/gender/outfit/pose.

I think this would be a neat feature to add some life and atmosphere to our properties.