a penny saved.. is a tile floor

i knew even before we bought our house that i wanted to put a penny tile floor in somewhere.  as in real pennies.  we had seen a floor like this at the standard grill in new york and thought it was really pretty and on a small scale wouldn't be hard to fabricate.

so i saved a bunch of pennies, made a template, bought some mesh backing for mosaic tiles, glue that could hold metal and started making sheets of tile.  

then we just installed them directly over the existing ceramic tile in the vestibule with regular thin set.   

and then grouted it with laticrete epoxy grout in chocolate truffle.  

it was really very easy and i love the way it came out.. most people that first see it don't realize that it's pennies.  i like the blend of the different shades of copper that was created from using old wheat pennies right up to bright 2010 pennies.  oh and in case you want to know... it took 3,889 pennies (it's about 3'-8" x 5'-8").  so $38.89 for app. 24 sf of tile is not bad at all.   

85% complete!

ok.. we are almost there with the bathroom.. major items still to be done are the glass around the tub, new windows and prepping / painting the window and door trim.. minor items include hanging towel bars / hooks..

The vanities, medicine cabinets, wall sconces, and faucets are all from Restoration Hardware.. scored some major deals at the outlet and the clearance store in Lancaster, PA.  The subway tile is American Olean from Lowes.  The carrara marble counters are from Abruzzi Stone in Cherry Hill, NJ; really nice, friendly people and the price was good too.  The toilet is the Aquia dual flush model by Toto.  One of the biggest savings was the 1" honed hexagon floor.. I purchased it at 1/2 the cost of any other source I found thru a store on eBay.   I love how it all turned out - I think it's a good use of the space and better reflects the character of the house.