Interior Designer · WD6
Interior design in Borehamwood & Elstree
Katherine Varnava Interiors is a luxury interior designer for homes and commercial spaces in Borehamwood & Elstree. A BIID Registered Interior Designer® studio based in Mayfair, London, it offers full interior design, technical design and bespoke joinery, FF&E procurement and a single design-and-build service, with Katherine personally involved in every project.
Homes in Borehamwood & Elstree
Elstree is an old village on the Roman road from London to St Albans, with timber-framed cottages, Georgian town houses and Arts and Crafts buildings around its crossroads. Neighbouring Borehamwood grew mainly in the twentieth century around its film and television studios and the railway, and is now largely residential.
Elstree Village conservation area has a scattering of fifteenth to seventeenth century timber-framed buildings, two Georgian town houses (Schopwick Place, about 1720, and Hill House, 1779), a Victorian parish church and Arts and Crafts buildings of about 1890 commissioned by the first Lord Aldenham. Borehamwood expanded through the twentieth century, including large post-war council estates, and has seen substantial new housing in recent years. Interior projects range from careful work in listed cottages to complete redesigns of later detached and family houses.
How the studio works
Every project, from a single room to a whole house or a commercial space, follows the same five-stage, RIBA-aligned journey: Define, Develop, Resolve, Deliver and Complete. The studio works alongside your architect and contractor, or delivers a single design-and-build service from concept to completion.
- Full interior design, from a single room to a whole house
- Interior architecture and spatial planning
- Technical design and bespoke joinery
- Lighting design
- FF&E design, procurement and installation
- Commercial interiors
- Design and build, or alongside your architect and contractor
The studio takes on projects across WD6, including streets such as High Street, Elstree, Elstree Hill North, Elstree Hill South, Barnet Lane and Summer Grove.
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Before you start in Borehamwood & Elstree
The consents and local rules that most often shape an interior project here, each linked to its official source. The studio checks them for your property at the start, so they are planned into the design and the programme.
Historic England states that listing status covers the entire building, inside and out, and that works needing listed building consent can include internal alterations as well as replacement windows. Consent is needed for any change that might affect the building's character as a building of special interest, and carrying out unauthorised works to a listed building is a criminal offence.Source: historicengland.org.uk
Elstree Village was first designated in 1976, and its appraisal (November 2014) lists 14 statutory listed buildings, all grade II except the grade II* Holly Bush Inn, plus 19 buildings of local importance. It notes that replacement doors and windows have marred many cottages on Elstree Hill North and South.Source: hertsmere.gov.uk
Hertsmere has confirmed an Article 4 direction for Elstree Village, so certain works that would otherwise be permitted development now need planning permission. The council advises contacting its planning team before carrying out works if you are unsure whether the direction applies.Source: hertsmere.gov.uk
Hertsmere Borough Council states that where it serves a notice on a construction site, noisy work would in most cases be limited to 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 1pm on Saturday, and not at all on Sundays, bank or public holidays.Source: hertsmere.gov.uk
Questions
Interior design in Borehamwood & Elstree
Does the Elstree Article 4 direction affect an interior refurbishment?
Only where the work changes the outside. The confirmed Article 4 direction means some external works that are normally permitted development need planning permission in Elstree Village, and the appraisal singles out unsympathetic replacement doors and windows. Internal layouts, kitchens and finishes in an unlisted house are not controlled by it, so we check any window, door or roof light changes with Hertsmere first.Source: hertsmere.gov.uk
My Elstree cottage is listed. Can I change the interior?
Yes, with listed building consent where the work might affect its special interest. Historic England states that listing covers the entire building and that works needing consent can include internal alterations. We survey and record historic fabric, then design kitchens, bathrooms and joinery that fit around it and prepare the information the consent application needs.Source: historicengland.org.uk
What working hours apply to building work in Borehamwood?
Hertsmere Borough Council says that where it serves a notice on a construction site, noisy work is in most cases restricted to 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays, with none on Sundays or bank holidays. We schedule strip-out and other noisy stages inside those hours as standard.Source: hertsmere.gov.uk
Do you take on single rooms as well as whole houses in Borehamwood & Elstree?
Yes. Projects range from a single room, which can also be designed remotely through the Virtual Studio, to whole-house refurbishments, new builds and commercial spaces. Every project follows the same five-stage, RIBA-aligned process: Define, Develop, Resolve, Deliver and Complete.
Can you manage the build as well as the design?
Yes. The studio can work alongside your architect and contractor, providing contractor coordination and design oversight on site, or deliver a single design-and-build service that takes the project from concept to completion.
Will Katherine be involved personally?
Yes. Katherine Varnava, a BIID Registered Interior Designer®, leads every project herself. The studio takes on a deliberately limited number of projects each year so that she stays involved in every detail, from concept to completion.
Updated 17 October 2026
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