When we last left our local hero, he was sailing on lavish praise from the judges.

This week, they knocked a bit of wind from his sails.

Nathan Galui, Palm Beach Gardens’ 25-year-old contestant in HGTV’s Design Star series, led a team of four other designers as they had three days to transform a real-life family’s Los Angeles kitchen for the show’s “dueling kitchen challenge.”

Although their Moroccan-Italian-style kitchen won, his teammates criticized Galui’s lack of leadership skills, especially tat-embellished set designer Antonio Ballatore, who complained he was once again relegated to being the installer and not a designer. (Anyone as cocky as Antonio had better be able to back it up with truly spectacular skills, which we haven’t seen yet.)
The judges thought Nathan hadn’t exercised enough leadership in paring down the other designers’ ideas to one cohesive plan. They didn’t like the color choices or the accessory overload.

However, the family adored their new kitchen, which saved the team. And Nathan’s group actually finished the project for the first time ever in the show’s history. So, congrats to Nathan!

A surprise was former Texas beauty queen Torie Halbert, whose backsplash of stamped tin flooring tile earned raves from the judges. And her fellow designers thought she could do only suburban model homes!

The other team, led by Amy Sklar, didn’t finish their kitchen. Even worse, mis-measurements meant the granite countertops didn’t fit. The judges slammed the bland design and in a surprise move, sent Amy home instead of clueless Tashica , who was judged the weakest link by her own team.

In the next episode, we’ll see more of the designers’ personal taste, as they work their magic on a plain white box of a room.

STAY TUNED: Episode 3 of HGTV’s Design Star begins Sunday, Aug. 2, at 10 p.m. To vote for Nathan (or another designer), go to www.hgtv.com. And don’t forget to check back with Florida Home next Saturday to see how Nathan did.