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Kirsi Alm-Siira and her spouse bought a sauna cottage in autumn 2024. Successful sauna cabin design and procurement requires identifying your own needs, but also gaining insight from those with experience in the matter.
The sauna cottage has brought so much joy to Kirsi and Antti that Alm-Siira absolutely wanted to share their experiences and the tips they've gathered along the way with others too. Hopefully, Kirsi's tips will bring joy to you, whose own dream is just taking shape or who are wondering where to start.
The interview was conducted at the spring fair in Helsinki 2025 This article brings together the best bits of the interview under clear headings. The interview recording can be found at the end of the article.
As you continue reading, you will find answers to questions such as:
- How to plan a sauna cabin as well as possible and where to get help
- Is it better to get a sauna cabin or is a simple sauna with a changing room enough?
- What are the advantages of ready-made delivery?
Article content:
This is how the planning of the sauna cabin began for Kirsi Alm-Siira
The sauna cottage design truly began. Inspired by the Helsinki Spring Fair. Kirsi ended up going to the cottage originally through her husband Antti, but now she describes herself as already quite ‘a real Finn and a real sauna-goer’.
“My husband has had a cottage for a long time – a fairly small one – and even before I came into the picture, he had been thinking that if he removed the sauna from the main cottage, he’d enlarge the dwelling a bit and build a separate sauna there.”
Impulse buy or planned purchase?
“In a way, we made an impulse purchase and in a way, we didn't – we considered together what would be a smart solution and how we'd go about it.”
”But then when we came here to the fair, we didn't have time to visit that many stands as we found the most suitable and right one for us.”
A suitable cabin from the department and good service
“The electronics department was very busy and we had to wait for our turn. – We pretty much knew what we were looking for, and when we saw our favourite in person, it was a pretty clear choice.”
“We received really good service. Hanna was serving us and answering the questions that were on our minds. And, indeed, I have never, ever before acquired any kind of sauna or sauna cabin, so I had quite a few questions. :D”
We sent him videos from the cottage, and the professional saw that their smaller car would fit through there easily and could be lifted into place, so that was an insight that was truly revolutionary!
– Kirsi Alm-Siira
Kirsi Alm-Siira's tips for designing a sauna cabin
- Let's discuss, amongst all parties, what the sauna cottage means to you and how the new building should serve you.
“It went surprisingly well on my own, so much so that it feels like sometimes at home they fuss about the interior design and stuff... but we We pretty much wanted the same things., when we knew broadly that we wanted the sauna out of our main cabin, so that we could get more space there.” - Consider any surrounding buildings and their connection to them.
“We had a rough idea of the tones that could be in that sauna, what it might look like from the outside. The main cottage is black, so we also wanted the sauna cottage to be the same colour., that it harmonises really well with the log cabin built in the 80s, in my opinion. Even though they are from completely different eras, they have the same tones and somehow the same spirit. Even though this new sauna cabin we have now is modern.”
“In the end, somehow my husband came up with the idea that we The sauna cabin's terrace and the main cabin's terrace were joined.. So it added to usability in the sense that the terrace is now much larger and they blend in well with each other. And then it somehow perhaps tied the two cabins on the same plot together even better.” - Find an operator who can realise the building of your dreams.
Best value for money The solution is usually a prefabricated building whose details are modified to suit one's own needs. Kirsi and Antti also opted for a prefabricated cabin that could be modified:
“In principle, it was time Perfect, but such changes were made that we both We wanted to move the fireplace's location. It was in the corner in front of the window, which I think is the case in quite a lot of setups. I think it looks really nice, but we were sort of thinking that we wanted maybe more space for the bed, so we moved its position.”
”In that sauna, a little The window was glazed. and when the choice was to put it all the way to the floor or a little smaller, we wanted it from the middle. For the back wall, we wanted one small ventilation window like this. But those changes were indeed quite easy to implement, and we got ideas for that too [from the designer]. - Utilise professionals already in the design phase (e.g., Ehtalla's design service is free)
“I remember thinking that a bigger window there in the back wall would be really great, and then when I listened to the professionals, it wasn't really sensible either. So, so might not consider things that I myself wouldn't.”
”We thought – in our opinion, we had measured it up and my husband, who understands things better than me, was in complete agreement – that the sauna cabin absolutely could not be delivered there whole. So, we were planning to get it in a way that it would be assembled on site. But then, fortunately, we were able to get a professional to help with that too.”
”We sent him videos from the cabin, so the professional could see that their smaller car would fit through there just fine and could be lifted into place, so that was one of those realisations that was actually lovely Revolutionary! And it was in a much faster condition to be saunad, that sauna, than if it had come there to be assembled by oneself.” - Give us a bit of time: google, go and look at your friends' saunas and maybe visit the spring fair!
“Before you start looking for good ideas, I think it's worth considering the sauna and a possible Tuvan Yes changing room Purpose of use and what they want. Once they know that, then perhaps it's worth looking a bit online and if you have friends or acquaintances, – what they look like a bit.”
”And then we at least had a really good thing about being here [at the spring fair] and we went in the saunas Inside and we also got that final certainty that we ourselves knew what we wanted.”
”What was infinitely good for me was that when it [the sauna cabin] was Furnished with this, so I got from it straight idea, and it's good spreadable sofa. And even though we didn't get all the exact same items, you could still see that it works like this somehow. And attention was also paid to these small details here. We looked at, okay, that kind of sauna stove and that colour of benching and stuff...”
Kirsi's top 3 choices for finishing a dream lakeside cabin
- Landscape window
“We don't quite have a floor-to-ceiling window, but it's quite big. Now we can see directly through a [scenic] window, so the scenery has also improved. - Wide bench
“When you're thinking about a new sauna, we focused on the width of the seating and especially the upper seating. It brings a lot of comfort.” - Naturalness works
“Inside it looks like untreated wood. Of course, it’s not completely untreated, but very natural-looking. – we think the sauna room is so nice, and it smells like wonderfully fresh wood, so it’s nice to spend time there in general, –”
Sauna cottage or sauna with a changing room? Kirsi's tips for making the choice
Regarding the size of the building, Kirsi recommends listening to your own needs. However, she does not advocate excessive penny-pinching:
“When you consider getting your own sauna or sauna cabin, The most important thing is to know what the need is. Sometimes it can be just a sauna and changing room, and that's really quite enough. It really depends on what the purpose of the cottage is:
Does your own family go there, or others too? How old are the children? Do the children want their own space? If so, I would definitely recommend thinking about the ”tupa" part, because in my opinion, a lot depends on that.”
”I would rather do A little more than a little less. I don't think it makes that much difference in the final cost, so at some point we also considered not having a living room at all – just a changing room – and now it feels like it would have been Stupid point save, because that room is very useful, even though it's not big.”
The sauna cabin can also serve as a guest house and workspace at the same time:
“With this sauna cabin joining it, the cottage is now largely in a state where it's genuinely nice to be there, with a bit more space. Even though the sauna cabin is quite small, it allows for that..." sleep mode for a couple for three So that means a lot more people can be invited over too, if you want.”
“You could make space for guests in the main cabin yourself and go to stay in the sauna cabin. But it is used a lot. Last winter when we were at the cabin, we" was used it also as a workspaceWhen someone else was working, they went to the sauna building to do it.”
Kirsi recommends a separate changing room for the sauna cabin
Between the sauna and the living room in Kirsi and Antti's sauna cabin there is also Small waiting room, which allows direct access outside for some fresh air. This way sauna Steam do not travel into the main living area, and there is a dedicated space for items related to dressing and sauna use:
“We do it so that we come from the sauna, open the glass door and come into the changing room, and then open the door to the terrace, and then there's a separate path to the, to the main room.”
”On the right is the sauna, then the changing room, and on the left is the sauna hut. So, in the changing room, there isn't much: there's a chest of drawers that fits towels and sauna supplies, a mirror and a lamp, a bench, and coat racks. And I don't think it needs anything else.
But it's just that you have storage space for clothes And there you can store essential sauna-related items or toiletries or other things, so, it's more important than its size, the changing room.”
A ready-to-deliver sauna cabin is not only convenient, but also a memorable experience
Prefabricated building on a trailer on foundations an experience of being installed directly is downright magical. When the building is made at the factory, completely ready down to the benches and the sauna heater, you can get into the sauna even that same evening:
“As far as I'm concerned, this is an absolutely marvellous thing. Of course, the foundation had been made a little earlier, but when the cabin arrived in the morning, around nine o'clock, we were in the sauna by nine in the evening.
Yes, I am somehow still astonished, ...that how we in Finland manage to plan and do those things so well. When you look at how something looks in a picture or on paper, and someone says it works like this and that... and then when it happens to you, you suspect that everything is going completely wrong.
”But this really went just as we were promised.. that was a really nice feeling.”
