PROJECT DETAILS
Project Type: Residential Cabin & Short-Term Rental
Location: Orr, Minnesota, Voyageur National Park
Overall Footprint: 8’3” width | 9’5″ length | 9’ 4” height
Capacity: Up to 4 people
Exterior: Arbor Wood Co. Stained Thermally-modified Ash Cladding
Heater: Harvia Virta Pro Wi-Fi Enabled Electric Heater
Window: Floor-to-Ceiling Picture Window by H Window Company
Project Story:
Some properties are memorable because of where they’re located.
Others are memorable because of the people who welcome you there.
Kim and Jay’s cabin, tucked along a quiet river in northern Minnesota, is both.
Follow the river downstream by boat and before long you’ve entered Voyageurs National Park. With more than 218,000 acres of rugged wilderness, hundreds of rocky islands, and nearly forty percent of the park covered by water, it’s one of the most remarkable landscapes in the country.
Over the years, Kim and Jay have transformed what was once a family cabin into a place where others can experience it for themselves. Guests come from across the country to fish, paddle, watch for the northern lights, or simply spend a few quiet days away from the pace of everyday life. Jay recently earned his captain’s license and now takes guests out onto the water, sharing a place he knows intimately.
Last June, they added one more piece to that experience: a Cedar & Stone Model 3 Outdoor Sauna.
For Cedar & Stone Co-Founder Justin Juntunen, it was a project unlike any other—not because it mattered more than the families and businesses we build for every day, but because this was the place where his own family gathers.
As Justin shared,
“When we’re young, our parents support us in obvious ways.
They cheer from the sidelines. They encourage us to try something difficult. Sometimes they even support the hard decisions that mean watching us move farther away.
My mom has always been that person for me.
She believed in me long before Cedar & Stone ever existed.”
Helping build a sauna for the cabin where those family memories continue to be made brought that story full circle.
“Helping build a sauna for the place where my own family gathers was one of the greatest honors of my career.”
A Sauna That Belongs
Every Cedar & Stone sauna is designed to complement the property it calls home, and this project was no different.
Kim and Jay selected the Model 3 Outdoor Sauna for its modest footprint and timeless design. Finished in stained ash thermally-modified siding from Arbor Wood Co., the exterior settles naturally among the surrounding pines, while the floor-to-ceiling picture window from H Window Company frames the forest and water beyond.
Inside, a Harvia Virta Pro Wi-Fi-enabled electric heater makes the sauna easy to incorporate into everyday life. Before dinner, someone turns it on from their phone. By the time the table is cleared and the towels are gathered, it’s ready.
Since the day the sauna was installed, the sauna feels like something that was always meant to be there.
The Rhythm of the Place
When Justin reflects on the cabin today, he doesn’t begin with the design or the construction.
He remembers the rhythm.
“My kids were the first to enjoy it with Grandma, and this past weekend it was all of us together. Every evening we’d heat the sauna, and before long the whole weekend settled into this rhythm. We’d start the morning with coffee in the sun, pick fresh blueberries and raspberries from the property for pancakes, play cribbage on the porch, cook whatever fish we caught that day for dinner, and end every night in the sauna. Then we’d sleep better than we had in a long time.”
The sauna didn’t create those traditions.
It simply found its place among them.
That’s often what happens when a sauna is thoughtfully designed for the property and the people who use it. It becomes part of the evening after a day on the water, another place to gather before bed, and another reason to spend time together outdoors.
Looking Ahead
The best projects become woven into everyday life so naturally that it’s difficult to remember the property without them.
That’s what has happened here.
Guests exploring Voyageurs National Park now end their days in the sauna. Family weekends continue with one more stop before bed. New memories are made alongside old ones, all in a place built around hospitality.
As Justin reflects,
“Some places have a way of making you feel alive. They make you feel seen, they make you feel cared for, and I think this cabin has always been one of those places. Mom, thank you for believing in me from the very beginning. This business wouldn’t exist without your encouragement, and thank you for creating a place where our family, and so many others, can gather, rest, and remember what matters. Some of my favorite sauna memories will always live at the cabin at the end of the river.”
Bring Beauty Home
Every Cedar & Stone sauna begins in our shop, but that’s never where its story ends.
The best projects become part of the places people already love. They become part of weekends at the cabin, evenings by the lake, mornings before the rest of the house wakes up, and traditions that are passed from one generation to the next.
Whether you’re building for your family or creating a place of hospitality for others, our outdoor saunas are designed to be part of that story for decades to come.
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