“Every day is a good day to have a sauna”—No weather can keep Jutta and Pasi from the sauna benches

When something feels good and brings you a lot of joy, you start dreaming about it. Pasi and Jutta Taavitsainen have both been avid sauna-goers all their lives. So it was no surprise that when their detached home came with an old, run-down sauna in its yard, they began dreaming of a new one in its place.

The couple decided their new sauna had to have a beautifully traditional appearance yet reasonably priced. They wanted to acquire the sauna not only affordably but also effortlessly. That combination sounded difficult to achieve, but Jutta and Pasi kept shopping around and exploring options.

The sturdy base of the terrace rests on a gravel bed and garden tiles.

First, the couple looked at factory-made log saunas and even had negotiations about a few. Then Jutta found a perfect solution on Instagram: a company that hand-carves saunas to order.

When the Taavitsainens reached out to the seller, Kyösti Myllymäki, they learned that the sauna could be delivered to Sipoo in one piece. The mere idea of a hand-carved sauna transported from Kokkola all the way there was intriguing. The sauna-loving couple closed the deal.

“We drew the sauna floor plan ourselves, and the supervising foreman drew a proper plan based on our rough sketch. We designed the sauna in such a way it was possible to transport it as a whole on a truck,” says Pasi.

Before the sauna was driven to Sipoo, the Taavitsainens obtained a building permit for it. A local earthworks contractor took down the old sauna cabin that had stood on the same spot. They had to replace the soil with gravel for better support, over which the Taavitsainens had frost insulation and a pier foundation installed.

Jutta paired a black IKEA table with chairs made by her grandfather. In fall and winter, the couple enjoy post-sauna coffee at the table.

The furnishings are kept minimal. The Taavitsainens found the solid wood wall shelf in Mikkeli via secondhand online store Tori.

Jutta’s grandfather made the brown chair in the dressing area in the 1950s. The coat hooks were made by Kyösti, who built the sauna.

The stove was selected for its appearance - Jutta and Pasi loved its beautiful pile-of-rocks look. One deciding factor was the hot water tank, because water is carried in by hand.

Kyösti built the sauna benches from live-edge planks, and Jutta treated them with a black sauna bench wax. The sauna’s interior walls were finished with a protective treatment meant for saunas. The building is heated solely by the stove, and wastewater flows through plumbing into a bio-treatment system.

Before delivery, the builder took care of the finishing touches in the sauna interior, installed the stove, and laid the protective brickwork.

“The rough look of the brick wall behind the stove is the result of hard work. Each brick was cast by hand in molds in Kokkola, and you can really see the handmade touch,” Jutta says.

Pasi adds that a concrete slab was poured under the stove, and it was left similarly rough.

Their persistent searching and effort paid off, as the sauna cottage ended up being cheaper than some of the other options they’d considered. Even shipping it from Ostrobothnia turned out to be less costly than they expected.

"We were there with friends to receive the building when it arrived," Jutta recalls.

The porch furniture was found through Tori, and Jutta picked it up in Espoo. The previously demolished sauna cabin on the property had the same shade of turquoise.

The area around the sauna was made practical by adding a large terrace. Pasi and Jutta got some help from friends for the project. They chose larch planks for the terrace surface, so it will gray at the same pace as the sauna.

For this couple, graying is an unusually desired outcome.

“The wait has been long, but now, nearly three years later, the sauna has finally begun to gray. I’m excited to see that gray patina covering the entire building,” says Jutta.

To really make their sauna evenings, the Taavitsainens set up a fire pit right next to the sauna. While the groundworks were underway before the sauna arrived, Jutta peeled and dried logs for seats. The couple made the log seats themselves from spruces felled on their own plot, and they purchased the fire pit ready-made.

“We like roasting sausages or hot dogs at the fire pit. Sometimes we make baked potatoes while watching the flames,” Pasi says.

The fire pit area in the yard was built on a gravel bed and embedded flagstones.

The Taavitsainens’ sauna is designed so it can be used in winter, too: everything can handle moisture and cold. In the winter, the heat is moist and gentle, and no weather keeps Jutta and Pasi away from the benches. They believe every day is a good day to have a sauna.

“We have a sauna as often as we can. We sit in the mellow heat, just listening to the quiet and the crackle of the wood,” Pasi says.

Jutta nods and adds that she has fond sauna memories dating all the way back to childhood.

“Back home in Hamina, we had a backyard sauna, and my grandmother also had one in Kolsila. Sauna and soda on a Saturday—how could I ever forget that?” she smiles.

Jutta and Pasi applied a mold protection treatment to the sauna’s exterior walls, and now they’re letting the wood turn gray.

Jutta makes her birch whisks from the young birches on their property and ties them the traditional way.

Get inspiration from Jutta and Pasi’s best ideas!

Jutta arranges flowers in clusters on the terrace. A container garden is easy to care for, and metal objects withstand all kinds of weather. Plants suitable for containers include carnations, geraniums, chrysanthemums, lavender, and ivy.

From leftover boards, the couple built a shelf for old jars that serve as candle lanterns. The glow of candlelight and the shade of natural wood create just the right cozy atmosphere. They didn’t run electricity to the sauna in order not to disturb the ambiance.

With gravel, the area in front of the sauna cottage stays neat and dry. A wildflower meadow grows around the cottage. It sprang up from native wildflowers, with no seeding required.