When you’re the grandson of Palm Beach County developer Otto “Buzz” DiVosta and son of another home builder, chances are you know which is the business end of a hammer.

 

But Nathan Galui would rather nail down a great room design than a 2 X 4. Last spring, the budding designer from Palm Beach Gardens got a chance to show whether he’s also got the tools to be an HGTV star on the fourth season of the network’s Design Star reality show.

STAY TUNED! Don’t forget to check back with us ever Saturday as we track Nathan’s progress on the show.

At 24 (he just turned 25), Galui, a 2003 Cardinal Newman High School graduate, was the youngest of the 11 contestants vying for the program’s grand prize: their own design show on HGTV. This season, the show moved to the Hollywood Hills, where challenges include designing Kathy Griffin’s spare room, Tiffani Thiessen’s guest room and Jason Priestley’s nursery.

Galui, with an interior design degree from Drexel University in Philadelphia and graduate classes in furniture design from Savannah College of Art and Design, won’t say how successful he was during this season’s show, which has completed taping and airs beginning Sunday night.

“Let’s just say I had a good time in L.A.,” is the only clue he offers.

During an interview at his condo in PGA National, in a complex his father, Gene Galui, built before Nathan was born, the freelance designer talked about his passion for designing furniture, and how the family business influenced his career.

Florida Home: With a grandfather and father in the construction business, did you ever have to put in time as a laborer on a construction site?

Nathan Galui: I was constantly on construction sites growing up. It was my playground. I never worked on a construction crew but I did a lot of cleanup at construction sites as a kid. My father wanted me to understand the business but I liked the creative route. But I learned how to read blueprints, and in college that helped me tremendously.

FH: What prompted you to enter the Design Star competition?

NG: I was here in Palm Beach Gardens, working part time at both Gallerie and an interior design firm. For some reason, I was very confident about my chances. I felt my stuff stood out. I wasn’t sweating it at all. I spent about a week putting together my portfolio and the five-minute video to enter. I looked at it as a way to take a risk and learn more about myself as a designer. 

FH: So … how’d it go?

NG: I can tell you that I had a really good time! But that’s all I can say.

FH: What was the competition like?

NG: I was the baby of the group and it was an extremely, extremely competitive situation, but I loved it. For me, the most difficult part wasn’t the execution of the projects, it was the time challenges. You had to make design decisions on the spot then had less than a day to create the project.

FH: The show has a team of installers standing by to help, right?

NG: I wish! All the work on the show has to be done by the contestants themselves. That’s where my construction background kicked in a bit.

FH: Looking around at your place, it’s really pulled together for a 25-year-old. Tell me about it.

NG: It’s a bit of everything. The dining table, I pulled from a trash pile then found a set of vintage ScanDesign teak chairs at Goodwill. There are bits and pieces from Gallerie, bought with my discount, a coffee table from Casablanca at Downtown at the Gardens and a black leather sofa from Rooms to Go. You can find great, contemporary design at mass market stores but you really have to shop it out.My dad and I renovated this place, ripping out popcorn ceilings and the old carpet. He built these places himself back in the day so he’d say things like, “Don’t take out that light fixture. You need it there.” And I’d say, “No, I don’t.” I had to encourage him to trust me.

FH: Where did you find those curtains? And are they really made from burlap?

NG: You like my $7 drapes? I cut strips of burlap, put them together accordion-style and sewed them together myself with brown yarn. I jacked the yarn from my mom.

FH: I hear you have an aversion to the typical Florida Tommy Bahama/Lilly Pulitzer look?

NG: Someone on the show was using turquoise in one of the challenges. I said, “I can’t do that. It’s too much like home.”

FH: Tell me about your furniture designs.

NG: I studied transformational furniture in college. That’s furniture that can become something else, like a regular chair that transforms into a lounge chair. I designed and built the one in my apartment. I’ve also designed tableware and a mirror I call FoCocco, like a modern take on Rococo.

FH: Do your friends ask for design advice now?

NG: It’s my job, as a friend, to educate them, whether they ask or not!