Our Latest Addition To The House - The Sauna
Our Latest Addition To The House
Taking a look back to this winter, it was a looooong one here in Minnesota. Long and Cold.. We have gone back and forth about putting on a sauna either at our house or at the cabin for a while now and mid winter Ryan and I decided to that it is time to put on a Sauna at home. Something to keep us warm on these blustery days. Plus all of the benefits of a sauna are actually quite amazing! I have just learned this past year that saunas have been found to reduce blood pressure, lower heart disease, Alzheimer's (by up to 63%) and also can significantly reduce type 2 diabetes (something that runs in Ryan's family.) On top of that, a 30 minute sauna can act as a low to moderate workout as it increases your heart rate. Thats one workout I can get behind! So it has more benefits than just getting nice and toasty which is a huge seller for us..
My brother in law works for a Sauna company (Finnleo Sauna) so we knew who to go to right away when we were ready to pull the trigger on this project. We went to the show room which is local to us and got to decide exactly what we wanted for the interior of our sauna including the Stove, Wood, Coloring, Benches, Size etc.
There are so many different options to pick from Traditional Saunas, custom saunas, and infrared saunas.
We knew though that we wanted the traditional rock sauna and we are so happy that's what we went with!
This is the very start of the process. This little deck was already existing from years ago. We used it as a little sitting area before this but it has turned into even better use for this project!
The deck was the perfect size for the sauna measurements that we wanted. But we knew we wanted a space to walk so it will be extended in the building process.
Ryan started framing it on a cold winter day as he was so excited to start this project hence the snow on the ground still!
Framed, Sided, Roof on. Getting ready to the door and to extend the deck now.
Deck and Steps in. It started to look like it was coming together at this point and made it so fun to see our vision come to life!
Eeeeekk!! at this point I was totally in love already! It actually is amazing how it looks like it has always been apart of the house. I fell in love with these unique long lights that added a cool modern element to the outside of the sauna. And double bonus, they look awesome lit up at night!
This is the point in the project where Ryan tossed the torch to me and I got to get busy making her pretty:)
Paint went on and ready for the deck to get prepared for sealer and stain next!
Usually when you put up green treated lumber it has to completely dry out before you can stain it. This can take 6-12 months. I knew I didn't want to wait that long, so I bought Cedarcide Cedarsheild Wood Sealer a product that dries out the wood and preserves it as well. Once applied you only have to wait 3 days to stain it!
When sealing I always make sure to get the corners really well with a brush to make sure they get covered well enough.
I use a brush to get into all of the cracks and corner first and then I move onto rolling the face of the boards. It is a very quick process!
Now onto stain. This is the stain I used on the rest of our deck so I obviously wanted to use the exact same stuff.
Pittsburgh Paramount Stain in semi-transparent in the color wenge.. I've realized that this stain color always comes our a bit more orange than I like but over time it settles in and turns into the color that I go for.
After shaking and stirring well. I take this double ended sponge brush and get in between the boards well. I typically do a few in between at a time and then grab my pad painter and do the face of the boards. Repeat, repeat and repeat again until all is done!
I only do 1 coat and it covers plenty well enough...
And drum roll please!!
Isn't she pretty?!! It turned out exactly how I envisioned it and I am so so happy!! We love it so much and it is already very well used...
One of the best features with this sauna is it can be turned on from an app on your phone. Because they do take a little while to heat up this feature is amazing for if you know you'll want to sauna when you get home or after dinner you can go to the app and turn it on so its ready when your ready!
When selecting all of the details of this we had the known we wanted a glass door to see the view outside. Siting on the benches looking our you see a beautiful view of tall trees and a wide open field. If its the evening we can watch the sunset which is breath taking in Minnesota! Finnleo has so many amazing options to choose from. Since we did a semi-custom sauna we chose the outside and then used Finnleo products for everything inside. After going to the showroom and seeing the workshop where everything was created, we knew the quality was amazing and loved supporting a local company!
The 2 tall skinny things on each side of the doors - are lights! I LOVE THEM.
They might be my favorite thing about the sauna if I'm being honest HEHE. They have more of a modern look to them which I thought was fun to add to the exterior of the sauna.
1 thing I loved about this sauna is the black walls! I am drawn to contrast so when I saw that as a option I was sold on it right away.
There is back lighting behind the benches that have a fun lighting feature as well. And lets not the forget the sound system, the kids favorite part..
Small details.. After the Sauna was 95% done we went back to the show room and picked out a few accessories.
The white bucket is for water to pour over the hot rocks on the stove to get the steam affect.
I hung up 3 hooks as well to hang the few different scrubbys we have in there. I love that everything has a tint of wood on it so everything looks cohesive and pretty! You can find all of these items by visiting a Finnleo show room and purchasing them!
So extremely relaxing!
That door to the left if the sauna goes into the house by the living room. So when we come outside before heading for a sauna we we grab and robe change and head in!
To say this guy killed it building this cute little addition would be an understatement. He worked through snow, rain and insane wind storms.
I tried to get him to take a break but he powered through and crushed it! Some of you may even remember the night he worked until midnight on it. I couldn't even get him to come in then LOL. He's a work horse and I'm so proud of him.
This was a fun project for us to envision and make it come to life!
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