When you are knocking down an old house to make way for a new build, you don’t need to throw it all away – breathe life into some elements of the past.

As people look to reduce waste and reuse materials wherever they can, doing so in a new home build can not only be beneficial for the environment but it is also a clever way to add character and charm to a home.

Frequently repurposing materials from old builds in its custom homes, Arklen Managing Director Mark Diedricks said older materials could add a lot of character to an abode, as they were often deep in colour and weathered in intriguing ways.

“Timber is by far the most common material,” he said. “It’s the easiest one to repurpose because you can machine the timber.

“It’s, generally, the older growth timber – the older the trees, the richer in colour it is and so forth.”

Removing, preparing and restoring the materials from an old build can be a lot of work but reusing them in interesting ways allows for a lot of creativity and an unforgettable design.

“It really is fun and very satisfying to be honest,” Mr Diedricks said.

“You are creating something completely unique; it cannot be replicated and it’s instantly rich in history even though it’s brand new.

“There’s an opportunity to be creative – in some strange way, it’s probably art.”

Pointing to Arklen’s East Fremantle custom build as an exemplary example of this technique, Mr Diedricks said the client’s goal from the outset was to build a sustainable home.

“Repurposing materials from both the original home and other construction materials they had gathered was just one of many decisions prioritising sustainability,” he said.

“Reusing these materials retained the history of the original home, and gave the new home a wonderful story and an instant connection to the site.” These original materials are featured in the new home in rather different ways and places than they were featured in the old one.

“The structural timber from the old floor was dressed and joined to create the timber stairs, while the old floorboards were dressed and joined to create all of the internal cavity slider doors,” Mr Diedricks said.

“The old robes were used in the kitchen and the original curved base plywood drawers were reused, along with the beautiful old handles.

“All of the balustrading was also salvaged scrap metal we designed and manufactured into balustrading.

“The light fittings over the beds are all reclaimed desk lamps we turned into wall lights.”

Mr Diedricks said recycling materials in new designs did not have to be tacky or cheap, if done right.

“Putting the time in – the labour component – is absolutely critical,” he said. “We’ve been able to demonstrate that you can use recycled materials in high-end homes without it looking cheap.”