Interior Designer · SW3, SW10, SW1W
Interior design in Chelsea
Katherine Varnava Interiors is a luxury interior designer for homes and commercial spaces in Chelsea. 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 Chelsea
Chelsea is a largely small-scale residential area of terraced streets, most built between the late eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries, with later inter-war and post-war infill. Much of it is conservation area and a large part sits on the Cadogan estate, so leases and estate licences shape interior work as much as planning does.
The typical Chelsea home is a late Georgian or Victorian terraced house in yellow stock brick and stucco, with timber sash windows, lightwells and railings, on streets such as Markham Square, Sydney Street and Halsey Street. There are also 1930s developments and blocks of flats, neo-Georgian infill from the 1950s and 1960s, riverside houses around Cheyne Walk and many mansion and purpose-built flats. Interior projects often involve reworking narrow-plan houses over several floors, opening up or reconfiguring lower ground floors, and fitting out leasehold flats where the estate's licence terms govern flooring, services and working practices.
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 SW3, SW10, SW1W, including streets such as Cheyne Walk, Markham Square, Sydney Street, Bywater Street and Jubilee Place.
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Before you start in Chelsea
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.
The Royal Borough has over 3,800 listed buildings, and its guidance states that all of a listed building is protected, including the inside. Consent is needed for works such as removing or adding cornices, skirtings, fireplaces, internal doors and architraves, removing internal walls or floorboards, re-plastering, and adding suspended ceilings or recessed lighting. Unauthorised works are a criminal offence, with fines of up to £20,000 per offence in the magistrates' court.Source: rbkc.gov.uk
Cadogan says long leaseholders must check their lease, as alterations are often prohibited without landlord's consent and some leases prohibit them entirely; where consent is needed a Licence to Alter is required. Its June 2023 guidelines require close-fitted carpets and felt underlay on floors and stairs, allow hard floors only where the lease permits, and require works to follow the RBKC Code of Construction Practice.Source: cadogan.co.uk
The Royal Borough has 38 conservation areas covering nearly three quarters of the borough, where stricter controls apply, and some properties have had permitted development rights removed by Article 4 Directions. The council advises checking whether a property is affected before starting work.Source: rbkc.gov.uk
The appraisal (adopted 4 January 2016) identifies painted timber vertically sliding sash windows as typical of the area and describes replacement uPVC windows and inappropriate window designs as harmful. It treats original roof forms, railings, lightwells and rear elevations with closet wings as important to the area's character.Source: planningconsult.rbkc.gov.uk
In Kensington and Chelsea noisy building work is permitted 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday only, and at no time on Saturdays, Sundays or bank holidays. Demolition and concrete breaking are further limited to 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5.30pm on weekdays.Source: rbkc.gov.uk
Suspensions are booked with the council's Parking Suspensions team on 020 7361 4385. Resident bays need at least 10 full working days' notice and pay-by-phone bays at least two full working days.Source: rbkc.gov.uk
Questions
Interior design in Chelsea
How long does a Cadogan Licence to Alter take, and what does it cost?
Cadogan's June 2023 guidelines say the estate aims to conclude formal licences within 90 days. It currently makes an administrative charge of £1,000 plus VAT, and solicitors' fees for a routine licence typically amount to £1,800 to £2,000 plus VAT, with possible further costs for engineers or monitoring. We prepare the existing and proposed drawings and specifications early so the licence runs alongside detailed design.Source: cadogan.co.uk
Can work continue on Saturdays in Chelsea?
Not noisy work. The Royal Borough permits noisy building work only from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday, and at no time on Saturdays, Sundays or bank holidays. Demolition and concrete breaking are limited further, to 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5.30pm on weekdays. We plan programmes around a five-day week and keep weekend activity to quiet tasks only where permitted.Source: rbkc.gov.uk
Can I replace the fireplaces and cornices in my listed Chelsea house?
Not without listed building consent. The Royal Borough's guidance says the whole of a listed building is protected, including the inside, and gives removing or adding cornices, skirtings, fireplaces, internal doors and architraves as examples needing consent. We record existing features at survey stage and design schemes that keep or restore original elements wherever possible.Source: rbkc.gov.uk
Do you take on single rooms as well as whole houses in Chelsea?
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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