All A Girl Wants is Diamonds

Preferably a Princess Cut diamond, but since I ain't gettin' one of those (hint, hint), I settled for Harlequin Diamonds.


Wednesday I finally finished little Mermaid's room. I first started this at the beginning of the summer, but the instructions I found online the first time did not measure out the way I wanted them. I found that out the hard way after marking off the entire wall in pencil.

I sulked, cried, and pouted.

I got over it and began erasing all of my first set of lines and started over.

I luuuuvvvvvvvveeeee the finished product!




It helps if you have one or more of these hanging around. Free labor. Is that legal?

He is pretty good at measuring and making sure the lines are straight and level.

I once saw him holding the level with his feet.

They were dirty.

He left footprints on the pink wall.


My first set of diamonds. I was so proud!

I told hubby that when we get ready to move, this room will sell our house! That's how proud I am!!

This room should make all mommy's want a little girl!! I'll do my best at giving step by step instructions on how to create your own Harlequin wall. I read somewhere that it will make a small room seem bigger. I've seen them entries, bathrooms, and kitchens.

While I was working on this I had an idea for a headboard. Just use molding to frame out a headboard and then do the diamond pattern within the molding. It would be super cute!!

Have I mentioned that I'm lovin' me some diamonds right now! Even if it isn't sitting on my finger (hint, hint)!!

You will need:

pencil

erasers

painter's tape

level

tape measure

base coat

paint for diamond color

I had a Black & Decker Sight Line Laser Level and it was a big help for the vertical lines. I couldn't ever get it right for the horizontal lines, but with a level it works out ok.


1. Take vertical and horizontal measurements of wall where you want your diamonds. This website is a good place to start to get an idea of how many rows of diamonds you will need. At the bottom of this website there is a calculator that can help you get an idea of the measurements for your diamonds. The rule of thumb is that the height of the diamond should be twice the width.

**DO NOT follow the directions from this website entirely because that is how I first made my mistake and had to start over from the beginning.
2. Make a vertical line down the center of your wall. This step will keep you from ending up with the last row being really narrow. Once you have done this step, I would measure each half to recheck and figure out how wide the diamonds should be and then start marking off the rest of your vertical lines. The level comes in handy when marking off all of the lines. I ran into some problems with the walls not being straight and had to adjust my dimensions a little. I read that the width can be adjusted a little, but never the height.

3. Decide how many rows of diamonds you will need and mark off your horizontal lines with pencil. Make your initial mark and then use the level to finish the rest of the line.
4. By the end of the third step you should have a bunch of rectangles. Marking everything off is the hardest part!! Now you should go back and pencil off the center of the top, bottom, and both sides. This is where the sight line laser level came in handy. I would find the center of one diamond and then get the laser on that mark and then go down the entire row and mark off the center of each diamond.

5. After marking off the center of each diamond, use your level to basically connect the dots. I marked everything off in pencil and then went back and used my painters tape. Keep in mind that all of your pencil marks will need to erased. If you are using a dark paint within the diamond you won't need to erase the pencil marks because the paint will cover it. Where all of my pink paint is, I still need to go back and erase all of my pencil marks. I also read that the kneaded eraser works better, but I had a hard time trying to get all the pencil marks off with it too. It will be a tedious job, but well worth it.
6. I used my painters tape to outline every other diamond because I didn't do a very good job of not covering up the diamond beside the one I was taping off.

7. After you have your diamonds taped off you are ready to paint.

8. Fill in your diamonds and then remove the tape. Once your painted diamonds dry, you can begin taping off the rest of your diamonds. I finished painting mine in one day.

For the black paint I used one part paint and two parts glaze. I didn't want the diamonds to be solid or really dark. I'm still not sure if the glaze was necessary because I ended up sponging the paint on anyway. I really luuuuvvvveeeeeeeeeee the finished product. Just in case you were wondering.

Let me know if you have any questions. I'm sure the instructions are as clear as mud!