If you are considering installing penny tile in your shower or on your bathroom floor, I am so glad you are here! In this post, I will share all the pros and cons of a penny tile shower floor.

In our last project, we installed white penny round tile on the shower floor and the niche of the primary bathroom, and I loved how it looked. That said, we installed and lived with it, so I have some personal experience with it that may benefit you. Knowing the good, the bad, and the ugly is essential before making any design or material decision!

 

What Are Penny Tiles?

Penny tiles, also known as penny rounds or penny round tiles, are small, round tiles made from a variety of materials, including ceramic, porcelain, marble, and glass.

The Pros

The Look of Penny Tile

Penny tile has existed for centuries and is still a go-to choice for many designers because of its timeless appeal. In addition to the long list of material options, penny tiles come in many colors. Designers often use combinations of penny tiles to create intricate designs and penny tile patterns, such as the popular flower pattern.

Maria Killam gives us a great example of how gorgeous the combination of penny tiles can be in her post, Timeless Penny Tile in My Bathroom Renovation. Along with material type, color, tile pattern, and grout color options, you can also have a glossy or matte finish. Your possibilities are essentially limitless when it comes to penny tiles!

Due to its petite size, a penny tile floor makes the room appear larger than it is, making it an excellent choice for small bathrooms. Penny round tile has been and continues to be a beautiful choice for floor tile, especially for bathrooms.

The Texture Penny Tile Provides

Aside from being very aesthetically pleasing, penny round tile is a great way to add lovely texture to a space. As it can be used as floor tile, shower floor tile, shower surrounds, and wall tile, there is no shortage of applications to choose from to do so.

Penny Tile Helps Create a Non-Slip Surface

A penny round tile floor is a good choice for wet areas, such as bathrooms and showers, because it creates a non-slip surface. The small size of the circular tile and the abundant grout joints provide enough friction to prevent the tile surface from being slippery when wet. The tile we used was a ceramic tile with a glossy finish. It was not slippery when it was wet, but I do think that if you are concerned about it being slippery, a matte finish might be a better choice.

Penny Tile is Fairly Simple to Install

Installing penny tile is actually pretty simple. You do not have to be a professional tile installer to install it, and you don’t even have to use a wet saw. A utility knife can be used to cut the mesh sheets, and tile nippers can be used to cut the tile.

I recommend dry-laying the tile first. One of the common pitfalls with penny tile is that if not done correctly, straight lines can appear where the penny tile sheets meet. The best way to avoid this is to cut the mesh backing, cut out alternating tiles to blend the penny tile sheets seamlessly and step back periodically to see if you see any lines.

Penny Tile Can Be Inexpensive

The cost of penny tile is our last but not our least important benefit. Penny tile isn’t costly! You can find glazed ceramic tiles for under $4 per square foot, which means that you could buy penny tile for a floor of 40 square feet for under $200. Of course, the prices go up from there, especially as you get into the marble penny round tile.

 

The Cons

Penny Tile is Difficult to Clean

While I loved our penny tile shower, we must discuss the not-so-wonderful aspects of penny tile. Because grout surrounds every single tile, there is a lot of grout to clean.

I am sure this is no surprise, but grout tends to be similar to a magnet in the way it attracts things like dust and hair. I discovered that the best approach was to vacuum or use a Swiffer before scrubbing. A broom just wasn’t sufficient.

Penny Tile Requires a Lot of Grout

The second drawback (only two isn’t too bad) is that penny tile requires a lot of grout due to the tile size and the amount of space between the tiles. When grouting penny tile, be sure you adequately press the grout between the tiles with your grout float. You also want to make sure to use sanded grout so you don’t end up with cracks.

If you use grout that must be sealed, make sure to seal it. This will help prevent staining.

Summary

In this post, I shared five excellent pros and two cons of using penny round tiles. With only two cons, a penny tile shower floor is a near-perfect option! If you still aren’t sure or are just looking for inspiration, there are some beautiful penny projects on Pinterest and Instagram to check out!

If you want some marble-centric bathroom inspiration, you might like my post, Our Primary Bathroom Mood Board: Marble + Brass. If you want to learn more about grout for your shower, please check out my post, Best Grout for Shower Tile: How to Choose the Perfect One.