Saunas Built to Fit Your Home or Cottage
By Chris Occhiuzzi
For Mill Lane Saunas, the best builds begin where the landscape - and the imagination - get interesting.
If you have spent any time in cottage country, from Muskoka to Georgian Bay and beyond, you know the variety of landscape features that make each property special.
The lake is at the bottom of a slope. The sunset is off to the left. The large granite outcrop is beautiful, but also in an awkward location. And the best spot for a sauna is usually the spot that makes everyone stand there for a second and say, "Can we even put one there?"
“Can We Even Put One There?"
For Jason Lilley, owner of Mill Lane Saunas, that question is where the fun begins.
"I like being challenged when somebody says, well, we're not sure if we can put it here or not," says Jason. "That's a challenge to me. We can put it anywhere you want."
Jason's positive attitude is a big part of what separates Mill Lane Saunas from the off-the-shelf crowd. He notes that there is nothing wrong with choosing from a catalogue if that works for you. But many central Ontario properties, especially the incredibly unique ones you see in the brochures, don't behave like catalogue pages.
They have slopes, shorelines, rock, trees, old decks, tight access, island logistics and views that deserve to be framed properly.
A Custom Sauna Designed Around Your Property
Mill Lane's custom approach begins with the property and the people using it. Jason asks where the sauna should sit, how many people need to use it, what the view should be, how the building should relate to the cottage, and what makes the most sense for that particular family, landscape and lifestyle.
"You don't have to just go and say, okay, well we want that bigger one out of the four different models," says Jason. "This way you can go and say, hey, this is the space that I have. It is 12 feet six by seven and we want to use it all."
Your Space, Your Sauna
That may sound like a small detail until you start looking around cottage country and realize no two properties are the same.
One week Jason may be working in Port Carling, the next in Huntsville, then Haliburton, and then on an island in Georgian Bay with a rock base underfoot. He has also worked in tight urban spaces, including a north Toronto backyard where every square foot mattered.
A Backyard Sauna in North Toronto
In that case, the backyard already had a pavilion, pool, hot tub and limited remaining real estate. The homeowners still wanted a sauna large enough for eight people, plus a change room and corridor to help keep the stove from blowing directly into the sauna. They also wanted a modern black exterior to complement the home and surrounding outdoor features.
In other words: not exactly a point-and-click order.
"We just take it and make it to their exact space provided," says Jason, adding that the goal is to put together "the ultimate package" with the best size, best layout and best value across the board.
A sauna shouldn't feel like it was dropped onto the property. It should feel like it belongs there.
Memorable Builds
Some builds are even more memorable.
Jason recalls one round cedar-log sauna built from white cedar trees selected from the bush, cut below grade, milled, assembled and rebuilt on a rocky platform so the finished sauna looked as though the trees were growing right out of the ground.
He has also built saunas cantilevered off rock, with supports anchored into granite and the structure reaching out over open space toward the view.
It is the kind of thing that makes you lean back on the bench, look out at the lake and maybe avoid looking straight down.
A Sauna That Belongs on Your Property
For both seasonal and full-time residents in cottage country, that is the point.
A sauna shouldn't feel like it was dropped onto the property. It should feel like it belongs there.
It should take advantage of the rock, the trees, the shoreline, the sunset and the way your family actually uses the cottage. That could mean a sleek modern build beside a pool or a rugged cedar structure tucked into the landscape.
And sometimes, it's a next-level sauna built where everyone else said, "I'm not sure that's possible."
Mill Lane Saunas is built for those moments. Not just the heat, not just the cedar and not just the craftsmanship, but the idea that the best cottage additions are the ones designed around the place you already love.
MILL LANE SAUNAS
📞 519-938-0989
www.milllanesaunas.com