A lot of homeowners can appreciate the “reclaimed” trend that has been picking up steam, but the Wall Street Journal recently featured several couples who took their obsession with salvaging old materials to a whole new level.

You might think restoring leftover pieces from condemned buildings or junkyards is a thrifty way for homeowners to save money, but you’d be wrong. Building new homes that incorporate antique pieces, which tend to be heavy and bulky, not to mention often in need of repair, takes a unique skill set — and of course the cost of that labor is passed along to the buyer.

The feature includes Todd and Debbie Martin, who bought seven stained glass windows, salvaged from an 1870s church in rural Pennsylvania. Although the windows only cost them about $4,000, installing them into their new home was a year-long project that cost them around $15,000. And that was only the beginning. In all the Martins spent around $800,000 retrofitting various items in their house, which is twice as much as they spent on the house itself.

Read the full story to see the slideshow and learn about a couple in Sundance, Utah who spent more than $4 million in making their house “resemble an ancient structure.” (If the WSJ story is behind the paywall, you can also find the full story on Realtor.com.)