TRADING SPACES Ty Pennington ’30 year challenge’ from J.Crew model days

Fans of the home renovation show Trading Spaces probably think of the above likeness when they imagine Ty Pennington.

The carpenter, who has gone on to star on several home design series, was always good looking (in a Y2K way!)… but did you know he used to be a cover model?

The star has recently taken to Instagram to participate in the “30 Year Challenge.” The photo may surprise you.

Trading Spaces

Ty Pennington became well known from the original run of Trading Spaces, which aired from 2000-2008. There were several carpenters through the run of the series, but Pennington was the staple (har, har) from 2000–2003, and again in 2007.

The Trading Spaces renovation concept: Two teams, two days, $1000!

The show takes two sets of friends/neighbors and lets them have full design control of a room in each others homes.

Sometimes it turned out great, but sometimes it was a disaster.

Trading Spaces rebooted in 2018 with several cast members returning, including Pennington and former host Paige Davis.

30 Year Challenge

In a post that starts “58 vs. 27,” the Trading Spaces star participated in the viral Instagram #30YearChallenge

The first photo posted is a current one, showing that Pennington looks super sexy at every age. When you flip to the second image, you see his self proclaimed “sad attempt at being a professional Male Model.”

(We think its a pretty sexy attempt…)

Ty Pennington was a model for J.Crew in the early 90’s before his lifechanging car accident.

Ty’s model career didn’t take off due to his car accident that is detailed in the same post. Turns out he was thrown from a Jeep! Yikes!

Where is Ty Pennington now?

Ty Pennington has continued his television career starring on several home renovation shows including Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Small Business Renovation, Rock the Block and most recently Ty Breaker.

He also got married to someone over 20 years his junior.

In an intimate Savannah ceremony back in 2021, Pennington, then 56, married Kellee Merrell, then 33.

Maybe that’s how he stays looking so refreshed?

Ashley Marie is a writer for Starcasm and the personality behind Twitter’s @RealityByAshley. You can contact Ashley via Twitter or email at realitybyashley(at)gmail.com