Last weekend I began making over my daughter’s bedroom. She’s been away at school for 4 years now, so it was finally time to transition from a teenager room to a grownup one.

I found a super fun comforter that was my jumping off point, and the color scheme developed from there.

As I began adding what I wanted to the design, I realized I was going in the direction of a triadic color scheme. This is achieved when you use 3 colors that are evenly spaced apart on the color wheel (making a triangle). The comforter had a lot of orange in it and some green. I threw in a third color, violet, to give it an extra punch.

Since writing my Fabric Mixology course where I explore color schemes and pattern mixing, I’ve realized that I am drawn to triadic mixes. I’m seeing them all the time in fabrics that I love. And I especially notice them in pictures of rooms with these colors. They offer a big dose of “surprise” and happiness for me.

With orange in the comforter, green was my go-to accent color. So I painted her white nightstand and her tall dresser in a shade called Jalapeño Pepper by Benjamin Moore.

To add a little personality to the windows, I found these shutters on Craigslist. The seller bought them in Virginia and said they came from an old farmhouse there. I put a sloppy coat of the green paint on them and hung them on either side of her windows. Instant personality!

I left the neutral colored desk for now, but I added in a mirror that I painted Verve Violet from Sherwin Williams. This color was the added punch to the room. Because it is a super strong color, I used it with restraint. I found an amazing blanket in that shade from my bedroom and moved it in there.

And of course there’s a desk chair that I customized for the room. I used a mixture of merlot stain and whitewash to achieve the pink stain. Then I added a polkadot orange chenille fabric to top it off!

And the results? I’m loving this unexpected color scheme…instant happiness! Triadic color schemes are going to be my go-to from now on in my decorating! Stay tuned!