Interior Designer · TW9, TW10
Interior design in Richmond & Kew
Katherine Varnava Interiors is a luxury interior designer for homes and commercial spaces in Richmond & Kew. 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 Richmond & Kew
Richmond and Kew combine eighteenth-century houses on Richmond Hill and around Kew Green with Victorian terraces, villas and mansion blocks on the streets between. The borough has 85 conservation areas and many listed buildings and Buildings of Townscape Merit, so interiors are often planned around surviving period fabric.
Richmond's Richmond Hill appraisal (adopted 30 March 2023) records early eighteenth-century groups such as Ormond Terrace, Georgian houses on The Vineyard, an Italianate terrace on Richmond Hill, rendered villa terraces on Cambrian Road and red brick mansion blocks on Clevedon Road. The Kew Green appraisal (adopted 8 February 2024) describes seventeenth and eighteenth-century houses around the Green, late nineteenth and early twentieth-century houses on the Priory Estate to the east, and mid nineteenth-century riverside cottages. Painted timber sashes are the usual window type, typically six-over-six on Georgian houses and two-over-two on Victorian ones. Interior projects here commonly involve restoring or adapting period rooms, fitting kitchens and bathrooms into listed or older plans, and designing joinery, shutters and lighting that suit tall, well-proportioned rooms.
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 TW9, TW10, including streets such as Richmond Hill, The Vineyard, Ormond Road, Petersham Road and Kew Green.
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Before you start in Richmond & Kew
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.
Richmond Council states that listed building consent covers the inside and the outside of the building, and works that affect its setting. Consent is needed before altering or extending a listed building, and carrying out works without permission is a criminal offence.Source: richmond.gov.uk
The Kew Green Conservation Area Appraisal, adopted on 8 February 2024, records 38 listed buildings and 223 Buildings of Townscape Merit in the area, which was first designated in 1969. It identifies painted timber sash windows as the most common window type. Alterations to Buildings of Townscape Merit are guided by the council's separate Buildings of Townscape Merit Supplementary Planning Document.Source: richmond.gov.uk
Richmond has 85 conservation areas, some subject to Article 4(2) Directions that remove householder rights. For houses, replacing windows or doors with ones of a different appearance is restricted, while for flats and converted flats the council says planning permission will always be needed to change doors and windows.Source: richmond.gov.uk
Richmond Council gives normal hours for noisy construction work as 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 1pm on Saturday, with no noisy works on Sundays and bank holidays. Officers can allow exceptions for emergencies, safety or work that cannot stop once started.Source: richmond.gov.uk
Anyone can apply to suspend a bay in a Controlled Parking Zone, for a £160.80 administration fee plus a daily per-bay charge that applies seven days a week. Signs are put up three full days before the suspension starts, and skips or building materials also need a licence.Source: richmond.gov.uk
Questions
Interior design in Richmond & Kew
Does listed building consent apply to the inside of my Richmond house?
Yes. Richmond Council states that listed building consent covers both the inside and the outside of a listed building, and that carrying out works without permission is a criminal offence. Changes to plan form, panelling, fireplaces or staircases can therefore need consent. We review the list entry and the surviving fabric at the start of a project and prepare drawings and a heritage rationale with the client's heritage adviser where consent is required.Source: richmond.gov.uk
We own a flat in a Richmond conservation area. Can we change the windows as part of a refurbishment?
You will need planning permission. Richmond Council says that for flats and converted flats, planning permission will always be needed to change doors and windows in a conservation area. Houses have more latitude for close like-for-like replacements, unless an Article 4 Direction applies. We usually keep existing window openings and joinery, improving comfort with repairs, internal shutters or secondary glazing where appropriate, and seek permission only where replacement is really needed.Source: richmond.gov.uk
How do we keep parking clear for deliveries in Richmond or Kew?
Apply to Richmond Council for a parking bay suspension in the relevant Controlled Parking Zone. There is a £160.80 administration fee plus a daily charge per bay that applies seven days a week, and signs go up three full days before the start. Changes must be requested at least five working days ahead. We book suspensions around major deliveries such as stone, joinery and furniture so installation days run to plan.Source: richmond.gov.uk
Do you take on single rooms as well as whole houses in Richmond & Kew?
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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