HGTV Alum Galey Alix Is Finally Ready for Her Next Chapter to Begin (Exclusive) 

PEOPLE has the exclusive first look at the home designer's new studio, a collaboration with Minted that completes her 2-year-long renovation

NEED TO KNOW

• Galey Alix shares how renovating her Florida home helped her process past trauma and embrace her new chapter
• The designer and HGTV alum’s studio, designed with Minted, reflects her growth and confidence after leaving Wall Street and pursuing a career in design
• Alix’s upcoming book, You Can Do Beautiful Things, offers design tips and showcases her personal and professional journey

For designer and former HGTV star Galey Alix, renovating her 1928 Florida home has been a two-year journey of healing and self discovery.

With the project now complete, PEOPLE has the exclusive first look at her studio, which she decorated in collaboration with Minted. The Home in a Heartbeat alum shares how it represents who she is now and how she plans to move forward with the next chapter in her life. 

"I have shed some happy tears, I'm not gonna lie. I think that I'm very emotionally connected to homes, and it's been easier to throw myself into other people's homes than my own, just because it's kind of connected to some darker things in my past," Alix tells PEOPLE. 

In 2018, the former Goldman Sachs executive turned interior design TV star's relationship with her fiancé ended just as she was finishing up renovations on their dream forever home in Connecticut. Around the same time, she was struggling with an eating disorder and losing her finance job.

After returning home to Florida, Alix got her life back on track, turning what was a DIY project into a design business and even starring in her own HGTV series, which followed her and her team as they renovated clients' spaces in just 72 hours.  

While the show didn't return for a second season, with Alix explaining to PEOPLE in 2024 that making the show caused her debilitating stress, she moved forward with Galey Alix Design as an off-air business. 

Despite her expertise, renovating her own space came with some apprehension — and dug up past pain.

"The last time I had been working on my own home, which was really the first time I ever worked on my own home, I had a relationship that fell apart and was really traumatic," Alix says. "And then, when I started the renovation on my home two years ago, finally thinking I was ready to tackle it, my first dog and the love of my life, who I had for 14 years, passed away right when I started."

After taking the time to mourn the loss of her dog, Hatcher, the designer was eventually able to pour herself into making over her home — and creating a space that also keeps the memory of her late pet alive.

"When I say there's happy tears and sad tears and, like, a little bit of triumph over some PTSD, I guess. It's a really emotional thing, so I think all of that is wrapped into the feeling that I have now, having completed it," Alix explains.  

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The final space to be completed was her studio, which was tied up in its own bundle of emotions. "It was the very last room and I had anxiety about doing it because I wanted to do it right," she says.  

"I've been designing for a few years now, but because I didn't go to school for design — I was a Wall Street girl for so long — I don't have the same background as traditional designers who I respect and really admire," Alix says. "So I've always been a little insecure about that. And the idea of creating an actual design studio in my house was kind of like the last full commitment to owning that this is me now. This is my career. This is who I am." 

She adds, "I also wanted it to look really professional and well done because, if you're a designer and you make your own design studio, that's a reflection of your skillset and your capabilities, right?"

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While she stalled a bit on the final room, Minted — the site that specializes in home decor by independent artists, as well as custom designs for everything from wall art to wedding invites — reached out about working together. "It was the perfect push that I candidly really needed to give myself a reason to focus back on my house and finally close this chapter and pour my heart into it." 

The space illustrates who Alix is as a creative force, featuring a gallery of black-and-white photography — something that she is particularly passionate about using in her designs. 

"I have this theory — again, take it with a grain because I did not go to design school — that if you ever use photography in your home, you should always use black-and-white photos. Never in color," she says. 

"The reason for that is because you could select from 50 different photos that you like and pick 10 to do a gallery wall, let's say. What are the chances that all 10 photos are gonna have the exact same color scheme that you want to deploy throughout the room? It's extremely unlikely," she explains. "Somebody's gonna have a red tennis shoe. Somebody's gonna have a yellow sandal. And if you want to take control over your space and tell a color story, then you need to have complete authority over the colors that you're choosing." 

Not only that, but Alix doesn't want the selection of photos "to be dependent on the colors, because I want the photos to actually mean something," she says. "I wanna pick these 10 photos because of those moments or what's in the photograph is capturing something that means something, or I think it's beautiful."

In fact, it's exactly the kind of lesson she wants to pass on in her new design book, You Can Do Beautiful Things, (available Aug. 4 from Rodale/Random House). "This is actually one of the rules I talk about," she says of the upcoming release, which outlines her approach to decorating and even showcases many of the finished spaces of her Florida home.

Thanks to the artwork, she has a fully designed space that is not only functional but also professional. "Your home office is really important, especially post-pandemic. Every time I open up my Zoom, this is the background that they're seeing now, and I'm really proud of it," Alix says, explaining that "I'm doing deals with huge hotel chains, restaurants and celebrities. My background needs to look like the level of design I'm gonna be able to deliver."

Now that the space is fully realized, "I feel really proud every time I open up the screen," Alix says, noting that this space is where she can "lean into who I am now and what I'm doing." 

"I have a lot of exciting things," she says of the book as well as other projects in the works. "And so, actually tackling it and finishing it and loving it, I'm proud of myself for taking the focus off of other people's homes for a little bit and actually just sitting down and working on mine. So yeah, I'm happy, I'm relieved and I'm proud."

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