Penny Floor!!

How to create a penny floor:

1. Gather pennies... I mean really get A LOT of pennies. We hit up friends and family for pennies, they were happy to get rid of them and we were happy to take them. We got about 2000 pennies this way. Then go the bank and ask for more, they will either be excited about your project or look at you like you are crazy. FYI you cannot get rolls or new pennies from the bank. I went to several branches and they said they come in mixed. According to the teller you can order them online. That seems like too much work and the mix of new and old pennies turned out great! We used about 6300 pennies. I figured it to be $2.88/sq ft, just in pennies.

You can clean the pennies in a mixture of 1/4 cup vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt to make them SHINE! It works like magic : ) I did this to a few hundred pennies.

2. Caulk - my husband sealed below the baseboards and around the sink and toilet with this Loctite All Purpose Caulk. This is to keep the epoxy from sticking to everything. We needed four tubes but we had a huge gap between the baseboard and the floor.

3. Glue! I used this Loctite  Spray Adhesive and it worked wonderfully! Just spray a small section and put the pennies down. I put them as close together as I could and I started from the doorway, which gave me a nice straight line to work off. Mine are placed randomly, I just tried not to have too many shiny ones or too many dull ones together.

4. Keep Gluing! Here is my progress about every hour or so, I'd work about 45 min then take a break. I also wiped them with a damp towel after the adhesive dried to clean any that came up between the pennies.

 

5. Epoxy - We bought this Epoxy "Super Glaze" at Home Depot. We used two of them, probably could have used 3 but it was kind of expensive. Make sure the floor is clean clean clean. We have two big dogs, keeping dog hair out of it was a challenge. Just followed the instructions on the box. Definitely a two person job, you have to mix it for six minutes. Then just poured it on the floor starting behind the toilet and sink and working towards the door. I used a plastic putty scrapper to smooth it out and make sure it got all the way to the edges.

6. Done! - Here is the finished product:

 

  

 

 

There are a couple of unique pennies in the mix. Kinda fun to challenge people to find them. There are 2 Canadian pennies and 3 of these old really old pennies that just say "ONE CENT" on the back.

 

Before and After. I love the teal!

Summer Reading

I had the ENTIRE summer off!! It was amazing! I read a lot, here are the highlights.

       

Gone Girl - could not put it down. I don't usually read this generic fiction and/ or crime books, but a friend recommended it and I really really enjoyed it!

Night Circus - very much my kind of book. Magic and love, perfect! Another recommendation from a friend and they nailed. The story was a tad slow at first, so it took a while to get in to it.

Sorta Like a Rock Star - young adult, recommended to me by my high school librarian. Absolutely wonderful. I laughed and cried. Easy read, obviously, since it is for teens...

Silver Linings Playbook - also by Matthew Quick, amazing!! The movie is okay, I love Jennifer Lawrence... but the book is 100 times better. The movie is not really that close to the book.

Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore - meh... thought it was going to have some real magic, turned out to be a lot of computers, I'm not that in to. Did open my awesome to some of the cool stuff Google can do. It's not just a search engine.

The Mortal Instruments Series - read the first 2.5 books. I really wanted to like serious. I like to read the books that are about to movies, but this one is not for me. I'm too old I guess... Don't waste your time, unless you're 14.

The Time Travelers Wife - reread for the 3rd time. My all time favorite book! Go read it now!! Again the movie is not as good. The movie is good, but I love the book!


Now I'm reading Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly for book club at work/school. It's about a high school girl who finds a diary written by a girl during the French Revolution. I've really enjoyed it so far. Both characters are interesting and have great voice. I'm also learning so much about the French Revolution (which I knew absolutely nothing about...)

Always looking for the next read, let me know if you've read something you think I'll like!