This “woodpile” is actually a sauna: see how this family enjoys a cozy sauna retreat
This family’s sauna is built from stacked firewood. Its gentle steam is achieved with a slow heating process, after which the sauna welcomes bathers for days on end.
Twilight still lingers over the fields, but Janne Rantala and Nina Lehtola already notice a bustle of activity along their sauna path, decorated with ice lanterns. The gentle steam of a Christmas morning sauna awaits the bathers.
Janne’s dream sauna was completed in 2012. At first, there was nothing but a pile of logs.
“This was the only spot we considered for the sauna. It’s in the middle of the yard, next to the old horse pasture—the prime location,” Janne says.
To build it, the family felled, sawed, dried, and split aspen logs from their own forest. Finally, the wood was stacked into walls for the sauna.
“Some of the walls are stacked from logs. The sauna’s interior walls have proper framing and insulation, of course. Otherwise, the heat would slip out through the gaps,” Janne explains with a laugh.
Janne designed and built the sauna on his own, and he also built the sauna stove from bricks. Nina treated the benches with tung oil.
Wind and rain blowing across the fields have given the aspen exterior a charmingly weathered look. Painting the surface would have been almost impossible, so nature was left to finish the job.
Heating the Christmas sauna begins well in advance. The batch-fired stove that Janne built gets its first logs on the day before Christmas Eve. After a few hours of heating, the sauna is ready for bathing all the way into the next day. Bathwater is warmed in zinc buckets on top of the stove’s cast-iron lid.
There’s never any rush when it comes to heating a log sauna.
“Heating the sauna doesn’t happen quickly. That’s part of its magic. Patient waiting is rewarded with gentle, moist steam,” Nina notes.
Spruce branches have been laid on the benches for their scent. Nina also brought a small spruce for the sauna entrance, decorated with only a single Christmas ornament.
“I believe that less is sometimes more. Often the sauna spruce has just lights, but this year I hung a single ornament—the prettiest one. I think that’s enough to catch the eye.”
Snacks are already set out in the sauna cabin on a table made of aspen. Everyone enjoys sandwiches stuffed with Christmas ham. The family’s festive drink is homemade blackcurrant juice, seasoned with cinnamon. Warm cocoa is also ready for anyone with a sweet tooth.
“You can take your cocoa with or without marshmallows. For some reason, the marshmallows are usually missing by the time we’re ready to drink,” Nina laughs, nodding toward the children.
The sauna is a place to relax for the whole family. They linger in the gentle warmth for at least an hour. The family’s cat Taavi sometimes appears on the benches, too.
Every so often, the bathers head out to cool off in the snow, then dash back into the sauna’s warmth. The family’s son Ossi spends the most time out in the cold.
After a good steam, sauna-goers get their slippers on and hurry inside to watch The Snowman on TV. That’s when Christmas peace settles in.
“After the last bathers finish, you can slow-cook Karelian stew in the sauna stove. It simmers perfectly there for the dinner table. These moments make the perfect Christmas Eve,” Nina says.
