Decorating & Design
Get Tiffany Pratt’s Top Tips On Decorating With Color
Updated on April 1, 2022
H&H‘s Adena Leigh chats with Tiffany Pratt on finding your signature palette, DIY projects and her new line of spray paint.
While most of us live in a world of neutrals, designer, stylist and HGTV personality Tiffany Pratt’s love of color is palpable. Recognizable by her kaleidoscopic hair and vibrant spirit, Tiffany boldly uses color in her design work to create lively, cheerful interiors — her most recent high-profile project being the dreamy teal-and-pink Cafe CanCan in Toronto. Author of This Can Be Beautiful, Tiffany coaches clients on how to incorporate color into their lives, and she spills some of her top secrets below.
House & Home: What inspired your fearless approach to color?
Tiffany Pratt: I love that word you’re using, it’s so fantastic. If you want the truth, it was never a conscious decision — I think I’ve just always had such a strong response to color. I believe we all have colors that we should have in our lives that bring us joy. Everyone’s colors are different, and I think that’s what my job has been as a designer — to bring color to people in a way that makes them happy.
H&H: What is your signature palette?
TP: Currently my signature palette has bit a more muted tones. In my home, I’ve got big hits of teal, dusty rose pink, electric orange, muted minty-green, and pink in every shade. Oh and purple — purple is making a new comeback in my life. So you see the teal and the purple talking, and then you’ve got this dusty rosey minty business, but the whole foundation of my personal love is 50 shades of pink and white. I love white — I believe in a really definitive, confirmed amount of white space, contrary to popular belief. With this definitive amount of white space, anything is possible when it comes to color. If you are Buying Furniture: Use a Website or Home Furniture Showroom?
H&H: How do you recommend others find their signature palette?
TP: I always tell people, the best thing to do when you’re looking for your personal palette is to be sensitive to what you react to throughout your day — so if you’re walking past a cake shop and you see a color of icing that you think is beautiful, or you’re looking at advertisements in a magazine and you’re really responding to a certain ad. I believe that all of the things we gravitate towards are clues to what we love.
H&H: You recently collaborated with Krylon on a line of spray paint. There are 16 shades in the collection — how did you decide what colors to include?
TP: It was very difficult for me. Full disclosure, we were planning on doing an eight-color line, but I couldn’t choose, so we doubled the line. I’m an artist and I never just squirt paint out of the tube and put it on a canvas — it’s always mixed with something else. So I felt like spray paint should be treated the same way. I’ve gone ahead and combined some of the colors to show the consumer how to do it (see above).
H&H: What are some easy DIYs you recommend doing with spray paint?
TP: I always tell people to start small. Something as simple as a flower pot or a vase, or, you know, I’ve been crazy to say stuff like pull out your old costume jewelry. It really can be something that is small and easy to achieve. It’s inexpensive, it’s easy to get your hands on, and it takes 10 minutes to do. Then all of a sudden you have this beautiful thing — it’s instant gratification.
H&H: Do you have any other budget-friendly tips for someone looking to create their dream space?
TP: I always tell people not to get rid of what they have. I think that looking at your stuff and reworking it into a room, spraying something out and adding some new textiles is a really inexpensive and easy way to breath new life into your space. People don’t ever think about the footprint of their house and how they can reposition some of the pieces to create change.
H&H: You’ve been called the “alchemist of color.” Is decorating with color a science or an art, and why?
Tiffany: An art. I never went to school for design. I follow my gut, I follow my style and I follow my taste — and I don’t compromise. I think it really comes down to just feeling it. I like to err on the side of what haven’t I seen, because that’s what design is. It’s getting people to look and observe, and really experience something new.
Tour a small, colorful condo by Tiffany Pratt on H&H TV.
1. 3. 4. Courtesy of Krylon, 2. Courtesy of Tiffany Pratt