MCM Inspired Cinder Block Wall

Do you have a plain wall that needs a little color? We did! Our deck is built on a cinderblock wall that faces the pool area. We painted the blocks white a few years ago to make the area look a little more finished, but it needed something else. 

After seeing several bloggers I follow on Instagram painting murals all over their houses, I decided to give it a go. The worst that could happen, is I would not like it and I could just paint over it.


I started by searching Pinterest for a Mid Century Modern design. The area is long and narrow, so I did not want to go too crazy. I settled on a diamond pattern in three colors. (Click here to see my inspiration photo) I shopped my stash and ended up using my front door yellow, mudroom bench gray, and my favorite shade of turquoise.

I started by measuring out how far apart I wanted the diamonds spaced and placed little pieces of tape at those increments. Next, I measured the size of the diamonds and cut a template from a pice of cardboard. I placed the cardboard template on the wall and taped around it, repeating all the way down the wall. I really pressed down the edges of the tape, especially in the joints to make sure it was sealed well. I used FrogTape because it is supposed to be the best for reducing bleed through on bumpy surfaces (and I was impressed!)

Once everything was taped off and I was happy with the placement, I got to painting. I painted two coats, letting it dry in between.

I removed the tape while the paint was still tacky and was super impressed with the clean edges. There were just a few places where it bled under and it was probably where I had to "smoosh" the brush in to fill in the bumpy areas. I will definitely be trading in my blue painters tape for FrogTape going forward!

This project turned out so much better than I imagined and I completed it in an afternoon! I may add a few Sputnik designs to it, like in my inspiration photo. What do you think?