This floor makes cents (or takes cents to make)

I came across the above picture and did as much of a double-take as is possible while staring at a computer screen. Real pennies! In grout! And I must say, the results are incredibly attractive. The room (located in the The Standard Grill, NYC) looks warm and inviting, modern - even witty - all at once. Basically, I love this idea and wanted to find out how to  duplicate the results of what obviously took some serious coin collecting (with apologies to Honest Abe, of course).

After making my peace with the idea of stepping on Lincoln's face everyday (this took some time), I did some research and found out that though it may seem like a pretty blasphemous use of coinage, it's not illegal to tile your floor with money. It's not like similar things haven't been done before. Also, how many of us "forget" to pick up the penny we drop on the ground while accepting change for that first cup of coffee (and then curse ourselves later when we need to spend $7.36 on a sandwich)? What's the difference, really, between "forgetting" to pick up a lost penny, or letting them collect on the floor of your car for months, and freezing the cents permanently in grout? Well, there is a difference - these pennies have been repurposed, while their lost or neglected brethren lining the corners of our busy lives are just unwanted, even resented.

Now that we've emerged from that murky "Is this is a crime?" territory, let's talk process. Because penny-tiling isn't exactly common, few resources exist providing a comprehensive step-by-step list of instructions. However, one intrepid DIYer did share his experience, which involves sticking all the (thoroughly cleaned) pennies to mesh backing with one-sided adhesive, cutting the mesh in 8" or 12" squares, then grid as you would when using a more orthodox tiling material. Be sure to choose a grout as dark as the one in the example photo, then bask in the glory of your purposeful penny project.

Just in case you need a little more inspiration...