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Ty Pennington of "Trading Spaces" shares tricks of the trade

By Elizabeth Rhodes
Seattle Times staff reporter

	Ty Pennington, the carpenter on the popular Learning Channel television show "Trading Spaces," will be in the Seattle area Saturday for a book signing.
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Come next Saturday, hundreds of people from all over Puget Sound may well converge on an otherwise quiet North King County hamlet to watch a man fiddle with a toilet plunger. In fact, Judith Chandler fully expects it.

"I mean, have you seen the poster?" asks Chandler, events coordinator for Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park. The poster is the same photo (sans plunger) featured on the cover of the latest in a wave of home-improvement books.

Titled "Ty's Tricks," this one is written by a guy his publisher describes as a "home-improvement heartthrob."

He's Ty Pennington, star carpenter of the wildly popular decorating/reality/conflict show "Trading Spaces" that airs weekly on The Learning Channel.

"People walk in the (bookstore) door and take one look at the poster and swoon," Chandler says. "Lots of ladies will be here." Starting at 2 p.m., they can grab a copy of the book, have it signed and see Ty manifest one of the projects from it: turning a toilet plunger (presumably unused) into a hanging light. Why, he has one above his kitchen eating area. Real conversation grabber, he says.

Author appearances Ty Pennington will make two local appearances next Saturday. The first, a book signing from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., will be at Fort Lewis Army Base's Main Post Exchange. It's open only to military personnel, armed-forces retirees and their dependents who hold military identification. Pennington's second appearance, which will be both a book signing and a lamp-construction demonstration, is open to the public. It begins at 2 p.m. at Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way N.E., Lake Forest Park. Anyone can attend, but those who wish to have Pennington's book signed must buy it from Third Place, which will then issue the buyer a ticket guaranteeing a numbered place in the book-signing line. "Ty's Tricks" and the tickets are available now. More details: 206-366-3333 or www.thirdplacebooks.com

Now on a whirlwind cross-country tour to promote his book, the affable Pennington took time out last week for a phone interview in advance of his visit here.

"I've always been the class clown. I guess I find it hard to believe that people look at me the other way," he says when asked about his heartthrob status. (For those inquiring minds, yes, Pennington is straight and single; his girlfriend has traveled with him to some cities, but won't be in Seattle.)

As for the plunger-inspired lamp, "I call it the flush light now. Most people find it interesting, but funny. But most people, when they come out to see me (in book stores), don't want me to do the whole demo. They want me to chitchat about a variety of things. The younger generation wants to know if I'll take my shirt off, which is hilarious."

Lest anyone think he'll be shirtless at Third Place Books, the answer is no. But he won't disappoint, predicts Walter Boyer. Last week, Pennington appeared at Boyer's bookstore, Bookends, in Ridgewood, N.J.

Most of the 400 or so attendees were female, and some drove several hours to see Pennington. "As they're gushing over him, he's gushing over them," Boyer reports. "I think women really like him because he doesn't take himself too seriously. He's a real character."

It's a handy attribute to have, Boyer points out, when women blurt out, as one did there: "I really like you in your boxers."

That's a reference to one of the book's photos — a bare-chested Pennington with just a hint of underwear showing beneath his low-slung, gravity-defying carpenter's pants. Another shows him hamming it up in the shower. "I'm having a good time in my shower. I had a couple of beers," he says cheerfully.

Photos like this one of Ty Pennington, from his book "Ty's Tricks," are what booksellers say are drawing audiences at author appearances and signings around the country.

"Trading Spaces" has been on TV for four seasons now, and Pennington has appeared in approximately 100 shows. Their premise: Two households "trade spaces," each overseeing the remake of one room in their neighbors' house using a budget of $1,000 each. Professional designers choreograph the work, with Pennington pitching in on various carpentry projects.

A number of new books reprise parts of the show, including "Trading Spaces Color!" and "Paige by Paige: A Year of Trading Spaces," authored by the show's perky host, Paige Davis.

Pennington's $19.95 book, however, is different. Instead of being based on the show, it's based on the $10,000 cosmetic remodel he gave his Atlanta house. (He now lives in Los Angeles.) Published by Hyperion, the book's subtext is, "home repair secrets plus cheap and easy projects to transform any room."

Yes, the toilet-plunger lamp is in there, and more. Like how Ty turned a Dollar Store metal salad bowl into a bathroom sink (really). And how Ty created bedside lamps out of Chinese placemats (truly). Plus, he demonstrates how he fashioned a few pieces of wood flooring into a handsome — and cheap — kitchen counter.

All this is accompanied by instructions and helpful hints. Take that kitchen counter. It will need to be sealed with mineral oil, he writes, "if you plan to do any cutting, slicing or chopping on the wooden surface. The good news is that mineral oil is also a laxative!" Pennington clearly still enjoys being the class clown. In a moment of candor, however, he blurts: "What I hate is, people think, 'He's shallow.' " That's a premise no doubt born of his former profession: hunky model for J.Crew ads. He's also been an actor.

So he proudly recounts how he wrote the book himself, adding chapters about tool use and even supervising the book's graphic design. That's a direct outgrowth of the years he spent in art colleges.

"My gift is that I'm a creative problem-solver," Pennington says, mentioning how he remodeled an Atlanta warehouse into seven apartments, on a shoestring budget. "I've got quite a few creative ideas. I'm happiest when I'm creating."

What most of his fans don't know is that his creative drive, plus that ever-ready sense of humor, has helped Pennington cope with a serious learning disability: ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. (Appearing on the "Today Show" recently, Pennington's rapid-fire patter caused Katie Couric to wonder aloud how much coffee he'd had. None, he told her. He's always that way.)

"If anything, ADHD in my early years was definitely a hindrance," he says. And his book, while not giving his condition a name, reveals how his mother struggled to help her son find focus for his creative energies. Finally, Pennington began taking ADHD medication in college, and success started coming his way.

He takes medication still, so "I get jobs done." But sometimes he lets it slide because, "I definitely don't like to get so focused I lose my fun."

As the book's photo of him goofing around in the shower shows, there's not much chance of that.

Elizabeth Rhodes: erhodes@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company