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Decorating a sauna cabin isn't always easy. A timber or log sauna cabin does, however, provide a beautiful setting for interior design. The most important thing is to identify the cabin's intended uses. This way you can choose beautiful yet versatile elements for your sauna cabin that serve the users' needs without cluttering the space.
This article gives you inspiration pictures and practical tips to help you furnish your own sauna cabin and avoid the pitfalls.
The 5 most common space needs and how a sauna cabin interior meets them.
A sauna cabin is a multi-purpose building. What a sauna cabin is really used for, however, depends on whether the sauna cabin is in your own garden or on a holiday cottage plot, how big a group uses it and whether it is the only building on the plot.
A successful sauna cabin interior starts with identifying the most important elements of the interior based on how the cabin is used. Then build the rest of the interior around these ”core elements”.
Sleeping
A sauna cabin often also serves as a sleeping hut or guest accommodation, in which case the most important piece of furniture in the sauna cabin is a bed or sofa bed.
If the sauna cabin is also used for relaxing, a sofa bed is definitely the best solution. Of course, a larger sauna cabin can have a separate sleeping alcove, in which case the cabin can also have a separate bed in addition to the sofa bed.
At its best, a sofa bed is not only a beautiful interior element but also the ultimate in versatility:
At the Ehta fair stand (Helsinki Spring Fair 2025) featured this spring Tapio Anttila's elegant Day and Night sofa bed, which opens out into a 180 cm wide bed.
The special feature of this sofa is the pillows, mattress toppers and duvets hidden in its seat cushions, so no separate storage space is needed for bedding.
The Ehta room offers two natural spots for the sofa or bed; either along the end wall or opposite the large windows, allowing the scenery to open up beautifully.
If people sleep in the sauna lounge, a dimming roller blind in front of the window is needed. For large picture windows, blackout curtains mounted on ceiling tracks work well.
Relaxing
If the sauna cabin isn't needed for sleeping, instead of a sofa you can furnish it with comfortable armchairs or, more casually, with a wall-to-wall carpet and beanbags. Large stackable floor cushions also allow several people to relax before or after the sauna.
A small coffee table makes the space cosy. Open shelves and a classic chest of drawers provide both storage space and a useful, attractive surface in the room.
Whether the cabin has electricity depends on the equipment level. Lighting and electrical appliances are also part of the interior and should be considered already at the planning stage. Even if electricity isn't brought to the cabin, you can arrange versatile and stylish lighting with solar power or portable rechargeable LED lights; a portable cool box is perfectly adequate for keeping drinks and snacks cool.
Cooking
The longer you spend at the cabin, the more important it is that eating and cooking are also comfortable.
If the sauna cabin is the only building on the plot, it must serve this need too.
For example, Ehta's 30-square-metre sauna cabin is a marvel of space, where you can not only enjoy the sauna but also sleep, cook and eat.
The lounge of just over 14 square metres can fit a small kitchen. If you want to manage without a building permit, however, you can't install a fixed cooker, so you can do your cooking on a separate hob placed on the worktop.
Sauna bathing
A sauna cabin without a sauna isn't a sauna cabin. This activity, so important to Finns, deserves appreciation in the interior too. Although the needs of the sauna room are simple, there are still details worth noting when creating it.
Sauna heater is not only a visible element but also an important choice for the functionality of the sauna. A heater with a large quantity of stones gives soft, moist löyly and looks impressive.
For Ehta's ready-made saunas, people often choose the Harvia Legend Green flame 240 heater, whose stylish metal mesh leaves the stones strikingly on display.
A bucket and ladle are essential, but often also a stylish part of the sauna interior. There are plenty of different options available. The plastic Pisara bucket is an easy and affordable option, timeless Scandinavian design. Kolosauna's aluminium bucket is versatile and stylish, but also recyclable. The beautiful wooden bucket from Kaurilan Sauna is handmade. A wooden bucket is the most ecological solution, but it needs careful storage to stay in good condition for a long time.
A stylish wooden rack makes even the firewood part of a harmonious interior. If you like, the interior can also be complemented with sauna cushions, fragrance oil bowls and other details that enhance the sauna experience.
Choose the right sauna benches
For bathers, the most important thing is the choice of benches. For a fairly wide sauna or a smaller group of bathers, I-shaped benches are a simple, stylish solution that also leaves plenty of space below, for washing, for example. The lower bench can also be wide, which creates space and safety for children, for example.
With L-shaped benches you get considerably more space for a group, or room for two bathers to lie down on the benches. I- or L-shaped benches are often perfectly sufficient for families too, as few children want to sit on the top bench for very long.
U-shaped benches work best if you often invite more people to the sauna at once.
Washing
If washing is done in the sauna, you don't need a separate shower room. In that case, it's worth getting a sauna heater with a chimney water tank and getting basins and tubs for the sauna, in which the washing water can be mixed to a suitable temperature.
Beautiful zinc buckets stay in good condition for a long time, as long as you don't leave water in them after bathing.
Storing towels is an important detail: hooks inside the sauna take up no space but keep towels warm and within reach. They also make it easier to cool off between rounds.
If there is a separate shower room, furnishing it is a matter of its own. In sauna cabins the shower room is usually kept moderately sized so that floor space isn't lost elsewhere. Once again, the most important thing is to make sure the space serves its users. A traditional washroom with a plank floor is atmospheric and is often enough for cottage-goers' needs. Instead of a washroom, there can also be a small changing room if washing is done in the sauna room.
Modern comforts can also be part of a cottage-goer's dreams!
Ehta's 30 m² showroom sauna shower room is versatile and fits a WC and basin as well as a shower and water heater. If you also invest in a warm tiled floor in the sauna, the water heater can be safely placed under the benches, out of sight.
Other tips for interior choices
There's no point bringing unnecessary furniture into a small space – only what is genuinely needed. This keeps the space functional. It also feels more spacious and looks stylish.
Furniture that serves many purposes helps create a whole in which usage needs are taken into account while the space remains airy.
Material choices should be made bearing in mind that people also move around the space while still damp from the sauna. For example, a wool rug is a good choice, as the natural material has cleansing properties and adapts to temperature, feeling warm when it's cool.
We also recommend washable covers for sofas or armchairs, or other easy-to-clean surfaces. When choices are made carefully with wear in mind, you can spend time in the sauna lounge in a relaxed way without worrying about the marks of everyday life.
