Interior Designer · NW3
Interior design in Hampstead
Katherine Varnava Interiors is a luxury interior designer for homes and commercial spaces in Hampstead. 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 Hampstead
Hampstead's 18th-century village core of narrow passageways, steep lanes and small squares is surrounded by 19th-century streets of red and yellow brick, many with Arts and Crafts detail. Camden counts nearly 500 listed buildings in the Hampstead Conservation Area, so interiors here often mean working with original plan form and fabric as much as with new kitchens and bathrooms. An Article 4(1) Direction also brings street-facing windows, doors and roof lights under planning control.
Camden's design guide for the Hampstead Conservation Area describes an 18th-century core of narrow passageways, steep lanes and small squares, with most surrounding streets developed in the 19th century in red and yellow brick, often with Arts and Crafts features. It singles out Downshire Hill for early houses with roofs behind tall parapets and Gainsborough Gardens for its clay-tiled roofs. Typical interior projects include reorganising tall, narrow houses for family life, restoring or reinstating period joinery and plasterwork, and finding discreet routes for heating, lighting and ventilation. In larger Victorian houses, projects often involve flats or whole-house reconfiguration within the limits set by listing and the Article 4(1) Direction.
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 NW3, including streets such as Church Row, Flask Walk, Well Walk, Downshire Hill and Gainsborough Gardens.
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Before you start in Hampstead
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.
Camden's Hampstead Conservation Area Design Guide (updated June 2026) states there are nearly 500 listed buildings in the conservation area, and that alterations which change internal layouts require listed building consent. Internal decoration and the replacement of kitchen and bathroom fittings would not normally require consent, but consent is needed if new fixings to the building, new service pipes, flues or vents are added.Source: camden.gov.uk
An Article 4(1) Direction covers most properties in the Hampstead Conservation Area, applying to the fronts of properties and sides facing the street, for single family houses and houses converted to flats. Camden's guide states that replacing windows or doors other than like for like needs permission and that double glazing needs permission. It notes there is currently no fee for applications made as a result of the Direction.Source: camden.gov.uk
The same guide states that installing a rooflight, even a flush conservation-style roof light, on a roof slope facing the street needs planning permission. Interior schemes that rely on extra daylight for top floors or stairwells should look first at rear slopes and other options.Source: camden.gov.uk
Camden allows noisy building works Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm and Saturday from 8am to 1pm. Noisy works should not take place on Sundays or bank holidays without authorisation, and work outside these hours needs prior consent under Section 61 of the Control of Pollution Act 1974, applied for at least 28 days ahead.Source: camden.gov.uk
Camden asks for parking bay suspensions to be booked at least 17 days before the start date, with a short notice charge for later bookings and a minimum lead time of 3 days. A skip placed on suspended spaces also needs a skip licence.Source: camden.gov.uk
Questions
Interior design in Hampstead
Does replacing a kitchen or bathroom in a listed Hampstead house need consent?
Not usually for the fittings themselves. Camden's Hampstead guidance says internal decoration and replacing kitchen and bathroom fittings would not normally need listed building consent, but consent is needed if new fixings to the building, new service pipes, flues or vents are added, or if the internal layout changes. We plan extraction, drainage and wiring routes early so that, where an application is needed, it is clear and complete.Source: camden.gov.uk
Can I put double glazing into the front windows?
On most houses in the Hampstead Conservation Area, the Article 4(1) Direction means double glazing needs planning permission, while like-for-like sash replacement does not. Camden's guide points to secondary glazing used with well-fitting shutters, which it says can cut heat loss by 60% and needs no planning permission. We can design internal shutters and secondary glazing as part of the joinery package; listed houses still need a listed building check.Source: camden.gov.uk
How far ahead should deliveries and skips be planned?
Camden asks for parking bay suspensions to be booked at least 17 days before the start date. Later bookings may attract a short notice charge, and the minimum lead time is 3 days. A skip on suspended spaces also needs a skip licence, and suspensions are limited to 6 months per street. We build these lead times into the programme for deliveries of joinery, stone and furniture.Source: camden.gov.uk
Do you take on single rooms as well as whole houses in Hampstead?
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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