Ty Pennington is known as the lead designer and host of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, but the 41-year-old said he's "just an artist lucky enough to have an outlet."
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Besides appearing on Home Edition, Pennington is busy with other aspects of his life as well. Ty Pennington Style, a new magazine that will debut in May, was recently started by the Home Edition designer.
"A lot of people think I'm just the host guy who's got other people doing his thing, but it's not true, I'm very much hands-on," Pennington told TVGuide.com. "I do so much already with the show and use my creativity to help many lives, and it's great to be able to do that. I've always wanted to do a magazine."
Pennington said he's also always wanted to have his own store -- where people could "actually come in and see one-of-a-kind pieces" -- and he's achieved that goal with the creation of Art Design Home Decor (ADHD), which is located in Venice Beach, CA.
"Roughly around the same time in May [as when Ty Pennington Style hits newsstands], we'll be launching the store, showcasing my [furniture] designs that are all one-of-a-kind pieces, one-of-a-kind pottery, interesting lamps, entertainment centers, and some textiles and prints, but also stuff I find around the world," Pennington told TVGuide.com. "People have asked me forever, 'Where can I go to your shop?' And the truth of it is, it's a shop, with sawdust on the floor. But now they can actually really walk into one."
Pennington also has a book coming out this spring, which he said is "about the rooms I've done [for Home Edition] and the inspirations behind them, the detail I put into it [and] how complicated it was."
"It's about what [Home Edition] has been like for me and getting to meet people that I help and why I do it," he told TVGuide.com. "You'll see some of the letters from people we've helped out."
Pennington is also personally helping others, as he's teamed-up with Bayer Aspirin for the "Wonders of the Heart Campaign," where people can nominate an "everyday person" in their life who was "worked wonders." The grand prize winner will receive $25,000 and have a feature story written about them in the first issue of Ty Pennington Style.
"I think we're having an effect on how people look at their neighbors, and that really makes you feel better about who you are as a person and as an American," Pennington told TVGuide.com. In addition, Pennington said he has set-up space at ADHD to showcase the work of local Venice artists. "I'm using it as a creative outlet for not only the rooms I do, but as a place where I can push the envelope and expose other people who are talented," he told TVGuide.com.
With a magazine, book, business, Home Edition and other ventures currently keeping him busy, Pennington is just trying to balance everything.
"It's funny, I'm in constant motion, but when I sit down and work on the computer on my rooms or work on what's going to be in the store or in the magazine, there's this calm," Pennington told TVGuide.com. "My friend said, 'You're the strangest person because you're happiest when you're working.' But I think that's [true] with anybody. If you're in the process of creating or finishing or exploring, that's when you're the happiest."
New episodes of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition air Sundays on ABC at 8PM ET/PT.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio
