My Houzz: A Tale of 2 Saunas
A trip to Finland, an inspiring photo and a twinge of envy lead two Seattle couples to build their versions of a dream sauna
Skip and Sandy Borland began building a sauna in their basement as an experiment. “We had a steam shower in our old home that we loved, so when we designed the basement bathroom, we thought, ‘Why not do it right and also install a sauna?’” Skip says. Then, when Juliet Schwalbach and Steven Mempa visited the Borlands’ finished sauna for the first time, they knew they had to build one themselves. With Mempa’s Finnish heritage, it seemed like a natural fit. “You’re not a true Finn unless you have a sauna,” Schwalbach says jokingly.
Their “aha” moment came when Skip found a photo on Houzz showing a steam shower leading into a sauna room. “That was when we knew we could make it work,” he says.
Now they weave the steam shower into the traditional Finnish sauna ritual by using it to warm up before stepping into the sauna and then finishing with a cool shower.
Now they weave the steam shower into the traditional Finnish sauna ritual by using it to warm up before stepping into the sauna and then finishing with a cool shower.
Skip dedicated a year to renovating the basement, including adding the bathroom and sauna. After drawing plans for the interior of the sauna, he had the materials fabricated by Finlandia Sauna in Portland, Oregon. He then completed the installation himself.
The wood-look flooring in the main portion of the bathroom is actually a ceramic tile from Home Depot that Skip serendipitously found one afternoon. “We’d been looking at products that were three times as expensive,” Sandy says. “Then one day Skip came home with this tile he was thinking about using in the basement wine cellar, and we ended up using it throughout the entire basement.”
The rest of the room’s color palette reflects the spa-like nature of the sauna, with warm gray wall tile and paint that are punctuated by a bright white vanity and spa tub.
Taupe wall tile: TGT Ceramic Company; sink: Retrospect, American Standard
Taupe wall tile: TGT Ceramic Company; sink: Retrospect, American Standard
The lighting, including the fixtures in the shower and sauna, can be dimmed to enhance the relaxing tone of the space.
Light fixtures: Destination Lighting; spa tub: Laurel Mountain Whirlpools
Light fixtures: Destination Lighting; spa tub: Laurel Mountain Whirlpools
In hindsight, the one thiing the Borlands would change is adding radiant heat to the steam shower bench. “We thought to add it at the very end of construction, and by that point, it would have been very expensive to install,” Skip says. “But every time we sit down on the cold tile after using the sauna, we wonder why we didn’t do it!”
Mosaic floor tile: Daltile
Mosaic floor tile: Daltile
“We wish we used the sauna more often,” says Sandy, seen here with Skip and Louis, their dog. Regardless, Skip is proud of the finished product. “I’m not an architect, and we only had three or four things go wrong during the entire basement project,” he says. “I’d say that’s pretty good.”
Sauna Room at a Glance
Who lives here: Steven Mempa and Juliet Schwalbach
Location: Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle
Year built: October 2015
For Mempa and Schwalbach, the seed for building a sauna had already been planted a few months before their visit to the Borlands, when the couple traveled to the home of Mempa’s extended family in Finland in October 2014. “Our basement wasn’t conducive to installing a sauna,” Mempa says, “but then we had an epiphany — why not install one in our backyard?”
Who lives here: Steven Mempa and Juliet Schwalbach
Location: Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle
Year built: October 2015
For Mempa and Schwalbach, the seed for building a sauna had already been planted a few months before their visit to the Borlands, when the couple traveled to the home of Mempa’s extended family in Finland in October 2014. “Our basement wasn’t conducive to installing a sauna,” Mempa says, “but then we had an epiphany — why not install one in our backyard?”
Mempa’s Finnish roots and childhood memories of his family’s sauna gave him additional inspiration for the project. “In Finland, the saying is ‘Sauna first, house second,’” he says. “It’s historically a communal experience, very social — important decisions and business discussions happen inside the sauna.”
They purchased the walls and interior of the sauna as a kit from Finlandia Sauna. Unable to find a modern roofline option as a part of the kit package, Mempa designed and built the sauna’s wood and copper roof to match the midcentury architecture of their home.
That meant tackling a few challenges along the way, including how to incorporate a larger overhang at the sauna’s entry.
Mempa also designed a custom granite trim at the sauna’s foundation, made of leftover pieces from a local rock supply yard. The pieces ended up being the perfect dimensions for the required foundation size, and their split face adds texture to the otherwise utilitarian concrete slab.
While the overhang provides some of the protection they were seeking, Mempa’s future plans include adding a small three-sided covered building nearby in the garden for cool-down sessions between sauna rounds, a part of the traditional Finnish process.
The sauna is heated by an electric heater, and humidity is added by pouring water over hot coals in a stainless steel furnace, much like the system the Borlands use. One challenge Mempa and Schwalbach have with their outdoor sauna is keeping the inside temperature high enough for typical use. In contrast, the Borlands, with their indoor sauna, have to monitor the temperature to avoid overheating.
Schwalbach was inspired to use graphic cement tiles from Spain after visiting the 25Hours Bikini Hotel in Berlin. She says radiant heat in the floor would’ve been a nice addition.
An avid art collector with an interest in pottery and textiles, Schwalbach included simple linens inside the sauna.
Mempa designed and built the couple’s Japanese-inspired backyard, and the sauna’s vertical windows frame the view perfectly. “It’s so peaceful and calm inside,” Schwalbach says, even when typical Pacific Northwest rain and wind batter the outside of the structure.
Schwalbach and Mempa have embraced Finnish tradition and use the sauna several times a week. “I am absolutely in love with it,” Schwalbach says.
When the couple first thought to build a sauna, “the idea was so decadent,” says Schwalbach, seen here with Mempa. “But we’re so glad we did — it makes us very happy.”
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My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. Share your home with us and see more projects.
Browse more homes by style:
Apartments | Barn Homes | Colorful Homes | Contemporary Homes | Eclectic Homes | Farmhouses | Floating Homes | Guesthouses | Homes Around the World | Lofts | Midcentury Homes | Modern Homes | Ranch Homes | Small Homes | Townhouses | Traditional Homes | Transitional Homes | Vacation Homes
Who lives here: Skip and Sandy Borland
Location: Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle
Year built: January 2015
Although the idea of a sauna appealed to the Borlands, they weren’t sure how to include one in the design given the tight constraints of the existing basement. “We wanted the sauna to have an entry pathway as a part of the experience, rather than stepping in straight from the bathroom,” Skip says, “but we just didn’t have the space.”