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UPGRADE. EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY GESTALTEN, $100. Open your mind to possibility with this book in which ideas for revamping existing structures are explored in a showcase of amazing European properties. Disused chapels, water towers, workshops, factories, barns and garden dovecotes that have been turned into divine dwellings are profiled in prose and photographs that are incredibly inspiring – it’s recycling taken to extremely beautiful extremes. Admittedly a) the average Joe is unlikely to have the chance to turn the silos of a former factory into an office space, and b) New Zealand’s not as dotted with sturdy historic structures as other parts of the world, but still, there is something in this for all of us. The best argument ever for dreaming of one day residing in a home that doesn’t look like the opening credits of Playschool, it’s all about valuing craftsmanship and respecting and building on the past. This book will look smashing on your coffee table and might also make you reconsider the options for that old shed.

TOP LEFT Creative extensions have turned the stony remains of a 19th-century dwelling in Tebra, Spain, into a modern family home. TOP RIGHT Portugal’s Pico Island is dominated by an extinct volcano. This occupied ruin appears to emerge from the basalt...