Dining Room Diamonds Tutorial

Thanks to everyone for the kind comments left about my dining room makeover. Since I got a couple of requests for a tutorial on how I drew the diamond pattern on the walls, here goes my very first tutorial. If you are a fan of HGTV's Rate My Space website, you may see some similarities between my dining room walls and the All-time Most Viewed Dining Room by Camryn1230 on the Rate My Space site, which served as my wall inspiration.

1. I painted the top portion of the wall using Ralph Lauren Regent Metallics Lush Brown. This is a gorgeous deep brown with metallic gold mixed in. It's just enough shine and sparkle to add some drama to a small and open dining room.

2. Next, I decided on the size of the diamonds by measuring the walls vertically. I made the diamond height divisible into the wall height. For example, the wall space I was working with is about 90"in height, therefore, I determined that I could fit 2 36" whole diamonds and 1 18" half diamond on the wall. Since I read somewhere that the diamond width should be 1.5 times the diamond height, I made the width 24". Note: This tutorial are going to use measurements based on 24" x 36" diamonds, but you can still use these instructions by substituting your own diamond measurements.

3. To begin the diamond pattern, I started in the lower right corner of my longest wall. I took my yardstick and marked the 18" vertical point (the center point of the first diamond- I will call this Point A) and 36" vertical point (and the upper point of the first diamond - I will call this Point B). Note: Point A is not an intersecting point, it is just there for reference now.

4. From Point A, use a yardstick or any straightedge and a level and measure 12" horizontally and mark this spot. From this 12" mark, measure 24" horizontally and mark the spot and continue to measure and mark the 24" spot along the entire wall until you can no longer measure a full 24" width.

5. From Point B, measure 24" horizontally and make the spot and continue to measure and mark the 24" spot along the entire wall until you can no longer measure a full 24" width.

6. Next, place the bottom of the yardstick vertically at Point B and repeat Steps 3, 4, and 5 until the entire wall is filled with staggering points vertically and horizontally.

7. Now it is time to play Connect the Dots! I used a yardstick and a Sharpie Metallic Paint Pen in Gold to connect the dots and draw the lines. That paint pen dried very fast on my walls, so I didn't have to worry about smudging. Because of that I was able to do the X pattern at one time instead of waiting for one direction to dry.

8. Finally, push a nail head in at each intersecting point. I was able to push most of them in using my thumb and a thimble. One tip I learned by accident: I got impatient and wanted to see how the nail heads would look before I got on the ladder to draw the upper lines, so I stuck a couple of nail heads in without pushing then in all the way. I found this later to be a great guide for my yardstick when connecting the dots on the upper lines. I just pushed the yardstick up to the nail heads and perfect alignment without me trying to eyeball it.

Look for Dining Room Makeover Part II next week!