Your Place | The Sauna

“The Sauna, once the old haunt ‘Tongues Funeral Parlour’, also known as ‘Slip of The Tongue’ after a casket fell out of a hurst.”

The Sauna could well be named ‘The Sauna’ because of the reason that everything is made from exposed wood. It could also be because the parties thrown there are known to get a little hot ‘n’ heavy…

Having had seen many extraordinary people come and go, The Sauna is a house for change and transition, a place to find your feet, learning to breathe a little slower and dance while you do it. It’s beautiful when it’s empty but it’s much more beautiful with the presense of people. A flat by definition, it is made into a home by those who occupy it; those who treasure its sunny rays, the stillness in the air and those who treat those walls as if they are theirs forever.

The Sauna at present is a ladies house, full of three incredibly brilliant ladies, each in their own right (and all with a tremendous love of karaoke). Situated above a pretty strange little set of shops (that has recently become a trendy little set of shops), you can see it from the street but to get there you have to sneak around a funny alley way, then through a very unused mini patio… In and up. Desperately steep and desperately narrow stairs guide you into the hallway which greats you with a cluster of very affronting, but polite cacti, quietly basking in the glow from the skylight.

Before we delve in to the bedrooms we must talk about the wood. Wooden walls, wooden floors, wooden ceilings. Wood horizontal, wood vertical, wood left and wood right, glorious, dark, moody wood…

The house is halved in two, two rooms facing out, two rooms facing back. The first back room is beautifully punctuated with great artworks. It is a room in which to realise the merit of bedside tables; a place where tulips bloom up the oceans of a stormy painting. Cane chairs bask in sheepskins, silks drip from the ceiling and an image of a Labrador by Mladen Bizumic sits next to a marble and mirror maze and steals your gaze for longer than you have realised.

The second back room plays host to the whitest linen, and a mantlepiece which breathes out against its surrounding dark stained walls. The dreamiest of work stations faces the western skies and two very high and very nice little shelves call on you to pull down something to read.

The front bedroom is just so much fun. Flower leis and dressing gowns, lamps and things placed up high. Blessed with all day sun and bursting with little gems, this room owns a selection of singular flowers in tiny little vases and beautiful jugs, and a vine that creeps down suspended clothing and drapes across the mirror.

The Sauna has no specific lounge, dining room or kitchen but we wouldn’t call it open-plan. The kitchen slots in alongside a truly exceptional fireplace, breathing a flame of dripping pot plants, fruit bowls and candles. Bookshelves and crockery surround a very sweet little dining table which is lit by lamps in the night. This room feels like a collection of time; books, inherited plates and bowls, plants and personal favourites. ‘Burnt Toast’ by ex-flatmate Bob Van der Wal is framed above the oven and the sink faces north (the only way to wash dishes). The true beauty of this room, though, slides in neatly below the bookshelf and next to the kitchen sink: two chairs. The red wired chair with its much-loved cushions is the go-to… This perfect little nook for two (or more!) is poised for conversation and begging for cigarettes, situated just high enough for excellent window gazing. It is the room for conversations, for memories and for moments, for laughter and for wine. It’s also the room for breakfast and for late night dancing. But mostly, this room is for smoking inside and feeling fabulous while you’re doing it…

Welcome to The Sauna.

See the full feature [here] by the girl with the epic eye, Ophelia King.