Television Pennington parlayed his hands-on skills and design acumen into a career in the entertainment industry, becoming a set designer, including for
Leaving Las Vegas in 1995. In 2003, he acted in the independent film,
The Adventures of Ociee Nash (as "Wilbur Wright"). However, his professional breakthrough came through
The Learning Channel's (now known as simply TLC) innovative hit show
Trading Spaces. In each episode, two sets of neighbors redecorated one room in each other's home. Both teams in early seasons shared one carpenter, while later on, each team had a carpenter. Pennington was featured as one of the show's original carpenters, and quickly became a show favorite. In 2003, when ABC began developing a show that would rehab 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, originally planned to be a 13-part special, became a huge hit, catapulting 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. He stated that his career on the show resulted in the channel's commissioning ''
Ty Pennington's Great British Adventure'', in which he worked with communities including
Portreath,
Cornwall (UK) to restore a run-down town park in a week and
Portishead, Somerset (UK) to renovate the town's derelict outdoor pool into a community-run Lido. The series was shown from September 16, 2008. When
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ended in 2012 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. When the show was cancelled after six months, Ty began pursuing other goals. In January 2021,
HGTV debuted
Ty Breaker, a show that features Pennington helping families struggling to make their homes work for their changing lives. Pennington joined the HGTV renovation competition series,
Rock The Block, as host for its 2nd season, which premiered on March 8, 2021, and has continued in that role since. He is currently hosting the 5th season of the show, which premiered in March of 2024. Pennington is also the host of HGTV show
Battle on the Beach, a competition real estate show with 3 teams that renovate a beach home room by room, alongside Alison Victoria, and Taniya Nayak.
Other work Prior to his partnership with Sears, Pennington was the owner and designer of his company, Furniture Unlimited, 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. Pennington published ''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'', which ran until 2009. On July 25, 2008, he announced a 3-year partnership with Marketplace Events, the largest organizer of consumer remodeling, home decor and gardening shows in North America. He appeared on an episode of
Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! playing a fictionalized version of himself named Ty Ty The Tool Guy. 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 appeared in an episode of Disney's
Take Two with Phineas and Ferb. In February 2014, Pennington became the spokesperson for
Guaranteed Rate and has been featured in a series of commercials and ads for the Chicago-based mortgage lender. Since April 2024, Pennington is a brand ambassador for Karndean Designflooring.
ADHD As a child, Pennington was plagued with behavioral problems until he was diagnosed with
ADHD at the age of 17. He also discussed his ADHD with
Glenn Beck and in the movie
The Disruptors. Pennington has partnered with
Shire plc to raise awareness of ADHD in adults and promote the use of
Vyvanse for the treatment of adult ADHD. He has been criticized for promoting the use of ADHD medications such as
Adderall without disclosing his sponsorship. == Personal life ==