Painting Harlequin Diamonds on a wall produces an interesting pattern that can either be very bold or very subtle depending on the colors you choose. Make sure you do a small test of the pattern with the colors you want before starting on your wall. This will take a lot of patience and tape, but it will be well worth it in the end. There are many variations you can use to create a nice design on your walls. What you see to the right was the basic layout design for one of my customers. You can see the finished results by clicking the link at the bottom of the page.

To get started you will need the following supplies:

1. lots of 2" Blue painters tape, How much you need will depend on how big the room is that you are painting. although there is a new green tape that is boasting no bleed. I have not tried it yet, as it is a bit pricier than your standard blue tape. It may be well worth the price in the end however. 

2. Two different paint colors. Make sure you measure the length and width of your walls and get the square footage to estimate how much paint you will need. (square footage = length X width of wall)

3. drop cloths

4. roller pan with liner

5. small roller with 2 refills (preferable)

6. one or more neaded erasers

7. at least one pencil with a sharpener

8. razor blade

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Step 1: Figure out the size your diamond pattern is going to be. The rule of thumb is that the height of the diamond should be twice the width. Once you have figured out how big your diamond will be you can move on to step 2.

Step 2: When you have all your supplies ready, and the room cleared for painting, your drop cloths in place, paint your base coat of paint on the wall using one of the two colors you purchased. Let it dry. You may want to leave it for a day, before you get to the hard stuff.

Step 3: Start with the wall you will see as you enter the room. Find the exact middle of the wall and draw a vertical line down the entire wall using a level and pencil.

Step 4: Draw similar lines vertically down the entire wall the length of your diamond pattern.

Step 5: Draw horizontal lines the width of your diamond the entire length of the wall. Now you should basically have a bunch of rectangles on the wall.

Step 6: Find the middle of each rectangle and mark the top, bottom, right and left side. Then connect the dots by drawing lines to form your diamond pattern. Keep in mind that all these lines will have to be erased at some point, so you may not want to make too dark a line.

Step 7: Once you have your diamond drawn you will need to paint in alternating patterns. The picture you see to your left has some diamonds left out. This is simply to illustrate which diamonds to tape first. In other words, you will paint the first and third, fifth and seventh etc, vertically and horizontally. SOOOOO, you need to tape up these alternating rows of diamonds skipping one in-between.

Step 8: When you have painted your odd rows go back and paint and tape your even rows.

Step 9: repeat until finished

See Example of Harlequin Diamond Pattern from Silverspoon Murals Photo Gallery

IMPORTANT TIPS

Tip 1: You are going to find that bleed will be a problem when painting. But, there is a way to avoid bleed. Once you tape up your diamond pattern and before you paint any of the diamonds in, you can paint the inside of the edges of the diamond with the paint you are using as a basecoat. Make sure you paint over the edge of the tape to seal the tape. If the paint bleeds it won't matter because it's the same color. Then let the paint dry before you paint your diamond with the actual color you want to use. Once you paint the diamond, remove the tape immediately. You may need to use a razor to make sure the tape comes off cleanly.

Tip 2: When you are taping the diamonds, put your tape just outside your line and erase the lines using a neaded eraser because it leaves no residue. If you paint your diamonds with a dark color paint it will cover the pencil marks, so you won't have to erase. Be aware that pencil lines will be visible if you are using a light metalic paint. When in doubt, ERASE PENCIL MARKS!