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Cathy Angelini of The Salvage Squad fame shows Ruth O’Connor around her converted labourer’s cottage just outside Cork city.
Many readers will be familiar with Cork-based interior designer and sustainable interiors stylist Cathy Angelini as one of the home makeover supremos on Animo Productions The Salvage Squad on Virgin Media Television. Behind the scenes however, Cathy is a popular presence on social media, runs her own interior architecture and design company Flamingo Interior Design and provides a wide range of services to both residential and commercial clients from concept to project completion.
At the end of 2026, Cathy will celebrate 10 years in business. She says that while her style has evolved during that time, the best reflection of her personal style is her own home – a converted workers cottage overlooking Cork city – which has changed little since she made it her own proving that the essence of her style remains the same.
“I love Mid-Century design – I can’t let it go. I love simplified design and Mid-Century has that form about it. Other styles from other eras tend to be more detailed or fussy. I keep reading that ‘Mid-Century is out’ but I don’t care.,” says Cathy. “I think Mid-Century pieces work well in new builds because there’s a common element between the new of then and the new of now. If you put a Mid-Century sideboard into a new hallway it instantly adds some soul to it and gives it a bit of character.”
Cathy says that her job as an interior designer is to help people to understand their own style and taste and to reflect that in their homes – it can be seamless in some instances but prove difficult in others as often people don’t have confidence in their own style. “In consultations I find that some people don’t know what to do and can’t find their personality in terms of design or interiors. My job is to try to help people find that,” she says. “If they’re wearing bright colours or gold jewellery that might inspire an injection of colour or some brass fittings in their space but a cheat sheet is also adding an old piece of furniture.”
On the other hand she says that many homeowners in Ireland have become increasingly design-savvy – especially since the Covid-19 pandemic: “Sometimes I’ll go to a house and people will be completely at a loss as to where to begin but in the past ten years in general I think people have become more confident and design-savvy ,” she says. “I’ll sometimes walk into houses and wonder why I’m there. The Covid lockdowns really changed people’s attitudes to interiors as people looked inwards at their spaces – 2020 was the year things changed and that positively impacted my business too.”
She says that how people’s spaces weren’t working for them became magnified at that time and that people suddenly wanted to get their surroundings right because they were at home all the time – a situation that has remained the case as many people continue to work from home on a fulltime or hybrid basis. Platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram have also increased people’s awareness of interiors but not always necessarily in a good way, she says.
“I find that people are comparing their own homes to the images they see on these platforms and that people are almost saturated with too much inspiration – I’ve noticed that people who scroll a lot are overwhelmed by what to do. Social media is also speeding up trends as well and accelerating consumerism – before we just had fast fashion but now we have fast interiors too,” she says.
“I might have something planned for a project but then the client might see something on social media and buy it and I’ll be saying ‘Woah slow down!’. I’m nearly trying to keep up with the algorithms in terms of what people want. I tell people to focus on better quality furniture, the function of the room and how they live so that they’re not just buying a sideboard from an ad that popped up on their social media feed. It’s about you, your space and your own personal style – people need to shut out all the noise.”
When it comes to her own home, the converted cottage looks spacious due to it’s clean lines and Mid-Century California vibes. “My own house isn’t huge – the open plan space I post a lot of pictures on online is half my house – the other half is three small bedrooms and a bathroom,” she says. “There is a Mid-Century writing bureau in my hallway that’s been there since we moved in and I doubt I will ever move it or get rid of it – I change elements around it but it always stays there. In my sitting room I have a Mid-Century sideboard. Again the decor pieces change over time (I too am influenced by trends in small ways) but it is a constant piece in my home.”
A sentimentalist at heart Cathy is nonetheless adept at keeping her home calm and decluttered. How does she achieve this? “A mantra I use with clients as well as myself is ‘Is the space this object takes up worth it?’ or ‘How much will I miss this object versus the space I’ll gain from it’. I’m good at getting rid of small things and I’m good at getting rid of toys which I have to do in secret of course but then I have weird sentimentality about things like seashells becuase of the resonance of family holidays the might hold.”
When it comes to combining old and new in her own home or in her clients’ homes Cathy says that it is the contrast between the two that makes the combination work. She says, however, that there must be some unifying aspect between the two. “It could be the shape of the leg on a vintage unit matching the shape of the leg on a new sofa. There must be some similarity and that is usually about the form of the pieces. That said, sometimes I throw the rules out the window and it just works too!”
Cathy is well known to the public as one of the designers on The Salvage Squad where she does brilliant sustainable makeovers on a budget of under €1,000 along with host Brian Dowling Gourounlian and fellow designer Peter Irvine. The aim is to revamp tired spaces in homes countrywide using all things freecycled, up-cycled, sustainable, secondhand or salvaged. Cathy’s designs on the show are testament to her skills as both as designer and sustainable bargain hunter but she says her love for all things secondhand didn’t originally start with ethics.
“My love of secondhand things was originally not based on ethics – it was more about finding things cheaply. Over time I then came to realise that the older cheaper pieces were better quality than a lot of the more expensive new ones. It really began to annoy me when I, or a customer of mine, would buy a new piece of furniture that would break in a short space of time,” she says.
A key component of her projects both on TV and for clients is the use of both texture and colour and while many people have traditionally shyed away from colour in their homes she believes this is changing. “A lot of people are still afraid of colour, that said, I do notice that many people are embracing colour a bit more these days. Ten years ago everyone was just doing navy, cream, beige and grey but nowadays I might see an orange sofa, a lime green chair or dark plum walls in people’s homes. I think people in Ireland are definitely getting braver when it comes to colour.”
In her own home the striking orange kitchen in a Mid-Century style is a key feature that many may not be brave enough to consider. “I am a fan of colour and I’m probably more brave than most when it comes to colour,” she says. “I’m aware that I might hate my kitchen in ten years time but I’m also designing for now – I’m not putting in a boring cream kitchen because it’s the safe option. I’ve loved Mid-Century design for years and orange Formica is quintessentially of that period so I don’t think I’ll be regretting my decision any time soon.”
Reflected in both her own home and in her work for her clients is her ability to layer different materials with different textures – a great way to create a sense of cosiness in the home – particularly when it comes to new builds and apartments. ”Layering textures is a great way to make your house or apartment more homely. Think about the textures in the room and choose different textures for your sofa and armchairs,” she says. “Perhaps choose a boucle fabric for your sofa, wooden framed or velvet armchairs and add a marble coffee table for interest.”
When it comes to the art in her own home Cathy says it’s something that has been collected over years. “I don’t think art is something you can buy off the peg in one go – it’s something that you need to collect over time because the art in your home should reflect you and speak to you. For example, in my office we have a framed poster from my husband’s band that he’s been in since he was a teenager. It’s about collecting pieces over time that mean something to you.”
When it comes to the smaller accessories in your home Cathy advises a similar strategy: “I would strongly advise people not to go into the homewares section of a shop and pick up an entire collection of things. You can find lovely items in highstreet shops but I wouldn’t buy everything in the same shop. It’s not about being snobby or high brow it’s because the things you surround yourself with should be collected over time and have meaning to you. One of my favourite things in my own home is a bowl full of old match books – I love the history attached to things like that. I’ve collected them over time and now other people collect them for me too.”
Address Book:
Follow Cathy at Flamingo Interiors at flamingointeriors.com.
Follow Cathy on Instagram at @cathyflamingo.
Catch up on all things The Salvage Squad on Virgin Media Television and @virginmediatelevision on Instagram.
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