DIY Dream Girl: @GaleyAlix

She only knows how to over deliver, and with over 3.2 million followers, this DIY phenom is just getting started.

Delivering the Dream:

Chatting with Galey Alix

Tell us a little bit about your personal story, and how you found your niche in design?

My story certainly subscribes to the “give your pain a purpose” mantra. My pain? Last year I opened up to my fiancé right before our wedding about having an eating disorder and I asked him for help. Because I’m so do-ityourself, asking for help is something I never do (never) so you can imagine how much I was struggling to have gotten to that point. I was breaking. Within an hour of opening up about it I was blindsided and sent on my way back home to Florida with my two dogs and everything from our home I could fit into two suitcases.

I spent the next 3 months seeing a nutritionist, a therapist, and recovering from a heartbreak I can’t begin to describe the depths of. While in therapy, I left my Instagram videos up that I made of me DIY’ing and decorating the dream house we bought, even though I deleted the Instagram app from my phone so I could focus on recovering. When I felt healed enough to go back on, I was in complete shock. The decorating videos from our house that I had made for fun had started to go viral and I had hundreds of requests from people all over the world for me to decorate their home.

The ironic part of this is that I work full time in finance and have been running that business since college. I’d never decorated for anyone, studied design, or even realized it was a passion of mine until I got engaged and we bought that home. I started saying yes to these requests and soon realized how healing this process was for me. I felt wanted again and I found my self-worth resurfacing with each space I lifted, and each homeowner I made smile. THIS. This is my purpose... and I had to go through that pain to find it. In the last year, I’ve continued to run my finance business for my Wall Street based firm while growing my DIY Design social media platforms to a combined 3.2 million followers.

You have an incredibly busy schedule with your weekend projects and full time career, how do you find time to balance everything and accomplish tasks and projects at such a high level?

In one word? Efficiency.

I’ve always been hyper efficient in how I work through problems and tasks. When you compound multi-tasking every day, your productivity builds quickly. It can be as simple as scheduling my conference calls on laundry day so that I can do both at once. It certainly helps that I’m single (though my two dogs should be considered full-time dependents on my tax return). I also physically write out a to-do list every night for what I want to accomplish the following day (and in what order I want to accomplish it in). When I wake up each morning there is no hesitancy about what to tackle first because the road map is already literally and physically spelled out for me. The only thing worse than making excuses for other people is making excuses for yourself.

What is the most rewarding part of your design business; what keeps you going even when you’re feeling tired or overwhelmed?

I love this question because the reality is, on every surprise install I inevitably hit a point of complete physical, mental and emotional exhaustion. It typically kicks in around 2:30am Sunday morning and doesn’t truly dissolve until I’m home, showered, and blow-drying my hair in preparation for the family’s surprise reveal that afternoon.

When a complete stranger trusts me blindly with their savings and their home, I am entirely consumed with one thought: “I just promised to deliver on their dream, but how can I now over-deliver on that.” Then you have to price in the stress of furniture or decor inevitably breaking, painfully timed Florida hurricanes, and that I need to have this all wrapped up by Sunday so I can go back to my day job Monday morning.

This undoubtedly takes a toll and I am well aware this isn’t sustainable, but it’s working for me now as I start building out a team to help with future projects. That is the rewarding part. All the people I’m getting to touch, in big and small ways. Meeting new families, learning about their lives, and trying to make their home situation a little better is overjoying. Building a team means I am providing an opportunity for someone to also do what they love. The people are undoubtedly the most rewarding part of this business.

What design items should you spend on, and where can you go a little lighter?

There’s only two reasons I would spend a lot on an item. First, if it will be heavily used and therefore needs to be well built and high quality, like a family room couch. Secondly, if it’s a one-of-a-kind show stopper, such as a chandelier that will pull the entire room together or a coffee table that’s unique and impossible to recreate. You can always spend less on pillows, candles, faux plants, and small decor items.

What advice would you give to people that are interested in tackling DIY projects or home renovation for the first time?

There’s a saying “Failing to prepare, is preparing to fail.” When it comes to DIY, I suggest you “Prepare to fail… then fail again… then 5 more times.”

To be a successful do-it-yourselfer you’ve got to be determined, not afraid to fail (and often), and hard-headed (literally… wear hard hats often #WHHO). The real beauty in DIY isn’t the end result, it’s the feeling you get every time you walk past something you created with two basic tools: your mind and your hands.

And the more failed attempts you have on a project, the more rewarding that final feeling. So each time you have a setback, remember, that’s only going to make your feeling of accomplishment that much sweeter. Keep. Going.

To hear more about Galey's GO-TO stores, resources for inspiration, and DIY tips Click the Link Below to read the FULL ARTICLE.

GALEY ALIX