If you happen to have a bunch of old pennies just laying around the house or in a jar somewhere, you can use them to create something new and beautiful. Unless, of course, you want to put them in the bank. I’ve seen so many great things made out of old pennies that I had to share this with you. As you well know, at DontPayFull.com, we value every penny, especially when it makes our lives easier.
I’m imagining that the first person ever to use old pennies to make a nice kitchen floor was looking for kitchen tile and, seeing the prices, went: “Ha! I think I’m better off just gluing money to the floor!” bought some glue and got down to business.
If you have patience and enough pennies, you can take on a bigger project, like a whole wall, in which case you might have to require some assistance from your friends and neighbors (let’s hope you are the friendly type!).
If that really doesn’t sound like you, start with a small project and see how it goes.
1. Penny Table
Yes, you are going to need a lot of pennies for this one! Basically, what you need to do is: polish the pennies using a bowl and some Tarn-X. Move the pennies around until they become nice and shiny.
It’s up to you to polish all of them or just a few (for color variation). Then, use a glue gun to stick them onto the table and the difficult part is yet to come.
You will need some epoxy, so if you have some around the house, feel free to use it! Buying it may not be a good idea (it’s over $100, so it’s all up to you). First, place a large plastic sheet under the table, pour the epoxy and let it spread evenly.
Use a knife to remove the excess and let it dry for a couple of days. When working with epoxy, it’s crucial to do it in a room where no impurities are present: animal hair, dust and so on. Also, try closing your air ventilation, air conditioning to make sure the result is perfect.
2. Penny Floor
You will have to follow the same steps from tip #1 for this one. As you can imagine, you are going to need a lot of pennies! You could ask friends and family to donate them for this cause if you don’t have enough.
Plus, you don’t have to polish them at all if you don’t want to. But think about this: you could polish half of them and then create interesting patterns!
And just to give you an idea of what this would look like, we’ve added a few pictures. The bad thing is that it’s probably going to take about 2 weeks to put it together. If you’re friends help, that is. Otherwise, it might take over a month. We think it’s all worth it. Don’t you agree?
3. Penny Backsplash
You are probably not going to be able to use epoxy for this one, so look into purchasing some floor lacquer. Use a glue gun for every penny, let everything dry off and then apply the lacquer.
You may want to be gentle and careful about it and apply multiple layers of lacquer (one layer a day should do it). There are some thinks to keep in mind: don’t apply the coins on oil paint- it is best if you can do it on the dry wall directly and then paint around the backsplash.
You can also glue on spray paint, wallpaper (you may need to add a thin needle every here and there to make sure the wallpaper doesn’t peel off). The result should look a lot like this:
4. Penny Decorations
There are so many things you can make with old pennies: glue them onto an old vase, create words on a wood board and hang them on the wall and the list goes on.
Fortunately, you won’t need to deal with epoxy for these projects, which is great. You will need to be careful with the glue gun however. Make sure to only put the glue in the middle of the penny, using a small amount (1/2 pea). Here are a few ideas you could go with:
5. Penny Mirror
Start by polishing the mirror frame, making sure the surface is smooth and straight, add some spray paint, let it dry and then start gluing the pennies. It’s up to you to place them in order or random. Most people go for random and I honestly think it looks better.
Plus, creating just the mirror frame is going to require less pennies than a whole table or the entire kitchen surface! Take a look, isn’t it great?
6. Penny Jewelry
I saw online that a lady was able to reshape the pennies, making them concave and turning them into buttons, but that requires a lot of heat and patience, so let’s just stick to what we know.
According to the US laws, you are not allowed to damage the coins and bills issued by the American government, which is why we will talk about gluing pennies, mostly. Yes, drilling a hole in a penny is a federal offense.
You could glue pennies on a piece of wood, then cut out a round shape, drill a hole through the wood, add an earring handle (you can find them online, they are very cheap!) and you are good to go. You could also attach the penny to a bracelet or neck chain and call it a day.
However, here are a few ideas that we absolutely loved:
You don’t have to be rich to use pennies: if you’re patient, handy and willing to give it a try, you could beautify your home in an unusual way. All you have to do is be brave enough to get started! Which one is your favorite?
