FINDING THE JOY IN IT ALL
Tiffany Pratt is making things beautiful from the inside out,
Tiffany Pratt breezes into the small bakery in the Beaches carrying a vintage art book under her arm. “I just picked this up off the sidewalk, someone left it there so I had to rescue it,” says Pratt, her signature orange hair glowing in the late morning sunlight.
Pratt is a Toronto-based designer, stylist, artist and TV personality — you might recognize her from her roles on HGTV’s Home to Win and Buy It, Fix It, Sell It.
She’s adding published author to the list with the release of her DIY book, This Can Be Beautiful.
It’s full of colourful projects presented with a no-rules approach to creating and a promise to redesign your life.
Your book is a kind of manifesto for embracing creativity. How did you come to this place in your life where you have the courage and confidence to do what you love?
My father passed when I was 7 and my mom raised me and my sisters by herself. She encouraged us to tap into who we were. So I think it was through my upbringing with my mom and art.
Over the years and through my 20s, I did a lot of self exploration. I had this amazing opportunity to work in fashion in New York and I really got heartbroken. I thought it was supposed to be creative and I thought everyone was supposed to be so eccentric and interesting and it really wasn’t. And so I needed to carve my path and find out who I was and who my people were and where that was.
You’re in a business where you have to be creative every day. Do you always wake up full of energy? What do you do when you don’t?
This is going to sound all Hocus Pocus; somewhere inside of me is this burning thing that no matter what has happened, and even if the pilot light got so low that I thought it was going to go out, somewhere inside of me is this thing that even when I think I’ve got nothing it just resurrects. I just have to remember it and call on it . . . So I cut the crap. I tune out the noise. And I get back to the things that I know got me to where I am.
How do you feel about places such as Pinterest? I find that going there when you are looking for inspiration can almost create a fog, a creative fog. Where do you go for inspiration?
I was at one point years ago going to create a T-shirt line that said “F--Pinterest.” I thought that Pinterest really shut down everyone’s ability to trust themselves and their taste. Truthfully, I don’t do Internet stuff . . . I believe there is an energetic suck when you get on your computer. Comparison — that’s the death of creativity.
What are some favourite spots to go to find crafting treasures?
Chinatown is dreams in a hand basket. There’s a warehouse in Scarborough called John Bead that’s a wholesale treasure chest of everything; craft, jewelry, everything.
Garage sales and yard sales be- cause people get rid of stuff in mass quantities and that’s what I’m always looking for when I’m making things — bags of old beads, bags of old jewelry, weird old Christmas decorations.
I’m always looking for the weird, the old and the ugly. I shop local as much as possible. For me, life is like a scavenger hunt.
What are three things you recommend people do to add beauty to their home?
The first thing anyone can do is paint. It’s cheap, accessible and really transformational and I tell people this all the time.
It’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do.
Second, get rid of anything you don’t love. Cull your space.
I don’t believe in keeping things that don’t bring you joy. Third, make old and new interact. People feel that if they want to redo their home or make it feel special they have to get rid of everything and start again. I don’t believe in that.
I believe in keeping the things that have soul and things that are something to treasure and sprinkling in new amongst that.
You’re a big fan of bold, beautiful colours. What are your tips for adding colour to your home?
The concept of finding the colours that bring you joy is similar to the way I recommend people acquire or keep what brings you joy. Noticing what colours you are drawn to and add colour in small little places.
Once you do that, it’s usually like breaking the seal. Once you do that it almost floods in like an ocean.
What is your recipe for success and happiness?
The biggest piece for me is to keep your passion and your heart and your well-being at the forefront and know that everything else filters through that.
You have to work for what you want and what you love. Keep your head down, don’t look at other people, don’t compare yourself. Just keep truckin’.
What’s next for Tiffany Pratt?
I feel like I’m going into a new phase in my life.
I feel like I’m doing a lot of soul working with others that was never expected and I think that my career in creativity is larger than just doing homes and making things beautiful.
I think it’s working now from the inside out.
Doing motivational talks is becoming a huge thing for me — I’m getting people to really look at their lives differently. The biggest piece for me is showing people that it’s not about one thing — it’s about everything. This interview has been edited and condensed.