'Home in a Heartbeat' Star Galey Alix Opens Up About the Real Reason She Wears a Hat All the Time
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If you are new to the home transformation world of Galey Alix, star of HGTV's Home in a Heartbeat, which premiered Wednesday, April 19, the concept might sound unbelievable. The DIY designer, who has millions of followers on Instagram and TikTok, is a full-time Wall Street executive who works into the wee hours on weekends pursuing her side hustle: pulling off extraordinary home makeovers for deserving families.
If it seems a bit wild, it is. But once you know Galey's backstory and what makes her tick, the show and her massive following on social media make more sense. Here's everything we know about Galey, including how she got started, her relationship with former NFL player Dale Moss, how to watch Home in a Heartbeat, and the answer to the question everyone is asking—why is she always wearing a hat?
How Galey Alix began transforming homes
The story behind Home in a Heartbeat has a heart-wrenching beginning. Galey, who is not a trained designer but is a skilled DIY'er, was engaged to be married and feathering the nest: her and her fiancé's dream home in Connecticut. But she says when she confessed some serious mental health struggles to her fiancé shortly before the wedding, he called it off. So, she moved back home to Florida, entered and completed therapy, and, shortly after, a new path presented itself.
As Galey shared on the Talking Out Loud podcast, an acquaintance in Florida, who had seen (and loved) her decorating videos on social media, reached out to ask if the DIY'er would do the same thing to her family's home. The family gave her a budget, a credit card, and their blind trust. Galey set to work ordering and planning. Then, when the family left for a weekend vacation, she—along with her dogs—moved in for 72 hours to embark on a whirlwind transformation that would be a complete and total surprise. (Sound familiar? It's the exact formula for the show.)
By the end, Galey had a revelation: "I saw for the first time what I was capable of when I was healthy. I saw that I could transform an entire house with my creativity and with my mind … to problem-solve," Galey said. "They’re going to make so many family memories there as their kids grow up, and I was a part of that."
The reveal of that first family project garnered 30 million views on social media and sent her follower count skyrocketing. As the requests kept rolling in, she helped more and more families. Though she now has a team of talented weekend warriors to help, her process has pretty much remained the same.
On the love front, Galey met former NFL wide receiver and The Bachelorette season 16 alum Dale Moss in 2022, and the two have been dating for about a year, according to the doting Instagram posts he shares, including birthday wishes last November. Recently, Dale posted a photo of the pair, both wearing Galey's signature baseball cap, captioned "Unapologetically Us." A few weeks later, he followed that up a sweet video from the same photo session captioned, "Hard to believe it’s almost been a year since we first met. Time is precious & I’m so grateful I get to spend it with you @galeyalix ❤️."
What is Galey Alix's day job?
Galey works as an executive at Goldman Sachs based out of Florida, according to Forbes. Though design and finance might seem worlds apart, she draws a comparison between analyzing markets and deciding where to invest and forecasting what a family really needs and wants in their homes. Another reason she has stuck with it: Both her company and her boss have shown her tremendous support through hard times, she shared on the Behind the BOSS podcast. She's had the same manager, "Jim," since he took a chance on the then-25-year-old go-getter working in a call center selling financial products.
Behind her design process
In interviews, Galey speaks a lot about doing the things that fuel her. And while design does fuel her—and she's clearly worked hard to acquire the knowledge and DIY skills required—design itself is not what she loves. What she does love: "I love my dogs. I love falling in love. I love surprising people," she told Behind the BOSS podcast. Her design process has all those things baked in: She falls in love with the families she helps, surprises them big time, and her dogs are always along for the ride.
In the show, Galey talks about how rooms speak to her and tell her what to do. She shed more light on that topic in her interview: “I am an empath in the deepest way," she said. "I feel things really deeply and I think one of my superpowers is being able to understand people. I read the families—I’m kind of like a CIA agent. I come in, and I look at everything down to the polish on her toes to what’s in their kitchen drawers, and I ask them a million questions, and I tell them nothing. I study them, and I try to anticipate things that they’re going to need and want that they don’t even know they need and want yet."
To add some extra love to her designs, Galey paints hearts and messages beneath the wallpaper and final coats of paint, such as "Made with love." In episode 1 of Home in a Heartbeat, she even spelled out "Dallas Palace" in caulk (in honor of the homeowner's dog) on the bottom of a windowsill before setting the piece firmly in place. These messages may be hidden but are there forever.
How long does the process really take?
Although the installations are done in one weekend with some really long hours, the process begins much earlier and Galey emphasizes that she does not cut corners. "To pull off these projects in a weekend, my team and I spend months planning, ordering, and building," she said. "These families mean everything to us. It takes a lot of late nights, talent and grit, but it's all worth it to give these families their Home in a Heartbeat."
Why does she always wear a hat on the show?
Fans on social media often wonder in the comments about Galey's baseball cap, which she wears with her blond ponytail pulled through the back. "The reason I wear I hat," Galey explained on the Behind the BOSS podcast, is, "I don’t want little girls who have seen my social media to think they need to look a certain way. I want the focus not to be on how I look; I want it to be on what I’m creating, because our value as people has nothing to do with aesthetics. It is what are we doing with our time and what are we doing for others.”
Where to watch Home in a Heartbeat with Galey Alix
All eight episodes of Home in a Heartbeat with Galey Alix season 1 are now available to stream on Max.
You can follow Galey on Instagram and TikTok at @galeyalix.
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