Cedar Sauna with Attached Outdoor Shower

Design notes

Mid-century modern design lines everything up with the house. Look for flat roofs and post-and-beam overhangs, walls of glass, breeze-block screens, terrazzo or large concrete pads with gravel joints, and a rectangular pool set square to the architecture. Planting is sculptural and sparse — agave, yucca, olive, citrus, a Mediterranean fan palm — and colour comes from a single accent: an orange door, turquoise water, a yellow umbrella.

What to look for

• Where the water goes — drain, soakaway or the pool deck
• Privacy height and sightlines from next door's windows
• How many barefoot steps from the pool or the back door