Ty Pennington

Early life

Pennington was born in Atlanta, Georgia as Gary Tygert Burton, the second son of school psychologist Yvonne Burton. Yvonne separated from Ty's father when he and his older brother Wynn were very young, and spent several years as a single parent before she remarried. Her new husband adopted both boys, giving them his surname Pennington.

Education

A self-described "Jack of all trades", Pennington learned woodworking early in life and began teaching himself about carpentry and home improvement. After attending Sprayberry High School in Marietta, Georgia, he attended Kennesaw State University, graduated from The Art Institute of Atlanta with a diploma in commercial art, and attended the Atlanta College of Art while working his way through school as a carpenter. Shortly after Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ended, Pennington received from the Savannah College of Art and Design an honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters.

Modeling

During his final semester, Pennington was approached by a modeling scout, and soon began a lucrative career in that field. He landed print jobs for J.Crew, Swatch and Sprite, and appeared in television spots for Diet Coke, Levi's, Macy's and Bayer, among others. His job as a model took him to places all over the world, as he went on to reside in Japan, Thailand, Italy, Canada, and Germany.

Television

Pennington parlayed his hands-on skills and design acumen into a career in the entertainment industry, becoming a set designer, including for the critically acclaimed film Leaving Las Vegas in 1995. However, his professional breakthrough came through The Learning Channel's (now known as simply TLC) innovative hit show Trading Spaces. He quickly became known for his off-the-wall sense of humor and creative style during four years as the show's playful designer and carpenter. Pennington has also taken a hand into acting as well. In 2003, he played Wilbur Wright in the independent film, The Adventures of Ociee Nash, and, in 2004, he made an appearance on the TV series Wild Card. He also appeared in country music singer Cyndi Thomson's music video I'm Gone.

In 2003, when ABC began developing a show that would transform the homes of deserving families in seven days or less, Pennington was chosen as the leader of the eight-person design team. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which was originally planned to be a 13-part special, became a huge hit, and catapulted Pennington to stardom. This led to an endorsement deal with Sears, a sponsor of the show. Pennington was extremely dedicated to the show, spending on average 240 days of the year working, and was known to have fought off anything from pulled muscles to heatstroke to food poisoning to keep doing his job. In many interviews, he proclaimed his career on the show as "resulted in the channel commissioning Ty's Great British Adventure, where Pennington worked with the community of Portreath in Cornwall to restore a run-down town park in a week. The series was shown from September 16, 2008.

When Extreme Makeover Home Edition ended in 2011 with its ninth season, Pennington had helped rebuild more than 200 homes for the show. Afterwards, Pennington relocated from Los Angeles to New York City, where he was cast to take part in the lifestyle-based talk show The Revolution, which aired on ABC in January 2012. The show was cancelled after six months, after which Ty began pursuing other goals.

Other work

Prior to his partnership with Sears, Pennington was the owner and designer of his company, Furniture Unlimited, which is based in Atlanta and Los Angeles. He also lends his name to Sears, with their design team guiding the design of every item in the Ty Pennington Style line of bedding, tabletop items, bath accessories, furniture, patio furniture, and other miscellaneous home decor. In addition to his involvement in design, marketing promotions and public relations activities for Sears, Pennington is also active in community outreach through the Sears American Dream Campaign. In addition to his furniture designing, he also carries a line of hardwood flooring through Lumber Liquidators.

Pennington published the book Ty's Tricks: Home Repair Secrets Plus Cheap and Easy Projects to Transform Any Room (2003), a do-it-yourself guide on home improvement. On May 15, 2007, he released the first issue of his quarterly magazine Ty Pennington at Home. The magazine gives his fans and avid interior designers a glimpse of his works as well as bits and pieces of his rather busy life. He has described many of his techniques and the techniques of other designers on interior design as well as answers questions sent from readers. Ty Pennington at Home also includes articles from people across the country who share different aspects of home repair and design. Ty's own advice articles include do's and don'ts, choices of tools, how to build custom pieces of furniture, and comparisons between glamorous interiors and identical, more budget-friendly choices of decor. Other sections include information of eco-friendly home decor items, the latest electronic gadgets to ease the process of everyday life, and even recipes for family meetings and social gatherings.

On July 25, 2008, Ty announced a 3-year partnership with Marketplace Events, the largest organizer of consumer remodeling, home decor and gardening shows in North America.

In September 2008, Pennington became the spokesperson for Abbott Nutrition and their baby formula packaging innovation called Similac SimplePac. He was also involved with the Similac Custom Nursery Design Contest and Ty's Nursery Guide that were part of the new product marketing.

In September 2011, Pennington was on one showing of Disney's Take Two With Phineas and Ferb. On October 3, 2011, it was announced that Pennington was to join the upcoming series The Revolution. The show premiered on Monday, January 16, 2012.

Books