DIY Penny Floor: Week Two

We are on the second week of our penny project. I am now referring to that ginormous 10 x 13 foot room as the pennytentiary. I must admit, I love seeing how it’s evolving and I will be happy beyond words when this project is DONE! 🙂

Since my last post about the penny floor, we finished gluing the compass.

Now we are on the opposite side of the room working penny by penny towards the compass. I would have been happy to do just a plain ol’ penny floor… however, my hubby feels that since we’re going through all this effort, that we might as well have a fancy border too. I have to admit, it’s looking nice and it helps break up the monotony of gluing random pennies.

From our online research, we are using two methods of putting together the floor. I really prefer the one-penny-at-a-time approach. My husband likes to make “tiles” using a 12×12 picture frame.

With using the frame method, you lay your pennies as you want them to appear on the floor. In our case, the pennies are all “heads up”.  We have learned that the process is easier if you make sure the pennies are packed snugly into the frame. Rob added a strip of Scotch Mounting Tape (see the green and white stripe) along the frame to create a tighter fit. After the pennies are arranged, he carefully applies contact paper, that he has trimmed to fit the frame, onto the pennies.

Then, when we are ready to lay the next “tile” (or sheet of pennies), Rob carefully removes the sheet, turning it over to expose the tail side of the pennies, when he then lovingly applies a dot of glue to each penny.

After each penny is glued, he very very carefully turns the sheet over and slides it into the next row of pennies.

NOTE: I did a live broadcast last weekend (via Periscope) of this process. I’m not sure how often I’ll use Periscope to show us working on the penny floor… however, if you follow me on Twitter @mortgageporter, you’ll be notified when/if I do another live broadcast.

I have found this stage to sometimes be a little tense. Gluey pennies can pop off and sometimes the rows of pennies may not perfectly align with the pennies already glued to the floor which can be a sticky situation.

This gap almost caused a minor meltdown. We tried everything to get the pennies to work together. We wound up having to scrape the pennies from the gap to the wall and re-do that section.

This is why I personally prefer the ol’ one penny at a time method vs doing tiles…

By the way, this is the glue that we are using. Many use good ol’ Elmers Glue. We’re hoping that Weldbond will be sturdier than Elmers.

Weldbond does dry clear and you have a little time to adjust the pennies, if needed.

For all we know, is probably just Elmers in a more expensive bottle!

Our best guestimate is that we are about 25% finished with the gluing of pennies. At this rate, we should be done well before Christmas.

Stay tuned!