Interior Designer · W1J, W1K, W1S
Interior design in Mayfair
Katherine Varnava Interiors is a luxury interior designer for homes and commercial spaces in Mayfair. A BIID Registered Interior Designer® studio based on Berkeley Square in Mayfair, 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 Mayfair
Mayfair's homes sit inside some of London's oldest planned streets, much of them on the Grosvenor estate, where a scheme of management runs alongside planning and listed building controls. Interiors here usually mean working within historic townhouses, mews houses and apartment buildings whose original fabric is protected, while meeting the expectations of a very particular neighbourhood.
The housing stock is made up of Georgian and later townhouses, many refronted or rebuilt in the Victorian and Edwardian periods, alongside inter-war blocks of flats on the main streets and former stable mews. Over the twentieth century many of the large houses were divided into flats or taken over by offices, and mews stables were turned into small private houses from 1908 onwards. Interior projects therefore range from returning a former office building to a single family home, to reworking a lateral apartment or a compact mews house. Joinery, panelling, fireplaces and plasterwork often need careful repair or reinstatement rather than replacement.
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 W1J, W1K, W1S, including streets such as Mount Street, South Audley Street, Grosvenor Square, Upper Brook Street and Green Street.
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Before you start in Mayfair
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.
Freehold owners within Grosvenor's Mayfair scheme need Grosvenor's written consent for external alterations under Clause 12, separately from planning permission and listed building consent. Grosvenor's guidance says redecoration and new kitchens, bathrooms or cupboards that reuse existing plumbing, electrical and gas connections do not need its consent, but that listed buildings face stricter rules. Applications go through the Grosvenor Connect portal with drawings at 1:50 or larger.Source: grosvenor.com
Historic England states that listing covers the whole building, including the interior, unless the list entry excludes parts. Listed building consent is needed for most works that affect a building's special interest, so altering panelling, chimneypieces, staircases or the plan form of a listed Mayfair house requires consent from Westminster.Source: historicengland.org.uk
Grosvenor's London Estate Contractors' Obligations (March 2025) apply to all contractors working on the estate. They allow work 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays with no noisy works, nothing on Sundays or public holidays, and require adjoining residents to be told at least 24 hours before noisy works.Source: grosvenor.com
The Mayfair Neighbourhood Plan was made on 24 December 2019 and is part of Westminster's statutory development plan. It includes policies on heritage and housing, and is used with the City Plan and London Plan when planning applications in the area are decided.Source: westminster.gov.uk
Westminster treats 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 1pm on Saturday as normal working hours; Sundays and bank holidays fall outside them. Noisy work outside normal hours needs a Section 61 prior consent application at least 28 days before work starts.Source: westminster.gov.uk
Bays can be suspended for building works, skip deliveries and removal vans through Westminster's online booking system. The council asks for 10 working days' notice, and charges per space per day on a tiered scale that varies by zone, with a £20 fee for short-notice requests.Source: westminster.gov.uk
Questions
Interior design in Mayfair
Do I need Grosvenor's consent to put in a new kitchen or bathroom?
Usually not, if you own a freehold under the Mayfair scheme and the new kitchen or bathroom reuses the existing plumbing, electrical and gas connections. Grosvenor's guidance says this, but it also says listed buildings face stricter rules and that its consent is separate from planning and listed building consent. We check the scheme, the listing and the services layout at the start, so any consent needed is planned into the programme.Source: grosvenor.com
My house is listed. Does that affect the interior design?
Yes. Historic England says listing covers the whole building, including the interior, unless the list entry says otherwise, and that listed building consent is needed for most works affecting its special interest. In practice that can include panelling, fireplaces, staircases, cornices and the arrangement of rooms. We survey the historic fabric first and design around it, preparing the drawings your heritage consultant or architect needs for the application.Source: historicengland.org.uk
When can trades work in a Grosvenor-owned building?
Grosvenor's contractor rules allow work from 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays, with no noisy work on Saturdays and nothing on Sundays or public holidays. In buildings Grosvenor manages directly, noisy work should be kept to two-hour slots between 10am and 12 noon and 2pm and 4pm unless agreed otherwise. We sequence installation and deliveries around these windows.Source: grosvenor.com
Do you take on single rooms as well as whole houses in Mayfair?
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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