Tried a triadic palette vs. analogous for a living room and one was a disaster

I spent last week repainting my client's living room in Arlington. I went with a triadic scheme using blue, orange, and green based on some online tutorial. The room looked like a children's play center instead of the calm space she wanted. Switched to an analogous palette with three shades of blue-green and it instantly felt put together. Has anyone else found that triadic works better for digital designs than actual walls?

2 comments

2 Comments

gavinwood3d ago

Man that triadic trap gets everyone, it's like trying to juggle three conversations at once.

bailey.sandra3d ago

Oh man, I FEEL this so hard. I did the same thing with a client's den last year - thought a triadic of yellow, purple, and green would be chic and it ended up looking like a crayon factory exploded. The blue, orange, green combo is especially tricky because orange is just SO dominant. I've learned the hard way that on a wall, that kind of high contrast just fights with itself. Analogous palettes are a lifesaver for real rooms, they let the eye rest and actually make the space feel bigger. Your blue-green mix sounds gorgeous, that's the kind of calm that actually works in a living room.