Ty Pennington, in person, is just as you would expect him to be: funny, talkative, fidgets a lot. America first fell in love with Ty’s signature crooked grin, go-with-the-flow demeanor, and remarkable creativity when he was the hunky carpenter on reality TV show Trading Spaces, and even more so as the charitable host of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Ty visited Crown Point back in September, as the celebrity guest for the grand opening of WaterPlace, an upscale kitchen, bath and lighting showroom by Leeps Supply Company. We met with Ty prior to the opening to chat about his past influences and future predictions for home improvement. What initially drew you to the home design industry? When I was a kid, I was the epitome of what ADHD looks like, back when they didn’t know what that was. The only way I would calm down is when I was drawing or putting a jigsaw puzzle together. My mom [who was a child psychologist] put me through a bunch of tests. There was one test where you had all these wooden blocks and it made an image when you put it all together. She set a timer and within seconds, I had it figured out. I scored high in this area, but then in verbal areas not so much. She realized I had a talent in one area. That’s not really a blessing in a family when you find out your kid can draw—oh, that’s great; that’s a big career. That’s always sort of a challenge when you know you’re pretty creative at certain things, but how do you turn it into a vocation?
Talking home improvement with Ty Pennington
