Sophie Conran at home

Take a step inside the doors of designer and cookery writer Sophie Conran's London home, and it becomes obvious that this is a world where family rules supreme and laughter echoes off all four walls. There are micro-scooters and skateboards propped up inside the wide entrance, and when you walk up two floors and step inside Sophie's flat, there's a blast of colour from a glorious red carpet and vivid yellow walls in the hallway. This is a home where colour meets colour head on, and one that is as warm and vibrant as Sophie herself.

But it's also far more than just a home. ‘There are things I would love, like a nice big garden, but I can't bear the thought of ever moving out. My children feel the same way. My daughter Coco loves the fact that she was born in my bedroom. It was one of the happiest moments of my life, and that memory has become part of the house.'

The daughter of design guru and restaurateur Sir Terence Conran and his wife Caroline, a food writer, Sophie moved here as a single young woman. Now a divorcée and mother of Felix, 14, and Coco, 13, she explains: ‘My brother, Tom, lived in a flat overlooking this pretty north London square near Paddington. It was such a friendly area that I decided to buy my first home here. I left home at 17, and had been renting since then. It was nine months' wait before this flat came along.'

Sophie's flat is on the top three floors of a five-storey Georgian mansion. When she bought it, 23 years ago, it was divided into six bedsits, which had to be ripped out and rebuilt from scratch. ‘It was the first real project I took on, and it gave me so much confidence to see my dream slowly evolve. When I moved in, the roof still wasn't finished, and I put my bed in the corner of the living room. I'd run out of money so all I could afford was two sofas and the bed.'

When it's pointed out that if she was short of furniture, Sir Terence Conran, founder of Habitat and The Conran Shop, could probably have lent her a piece or two, Sophie laughs. ‘I did have to borrow some money from him to finish the building. When the flat was complete, I said "I'll put it on the market and pay you back," but Dad said, "Pay me back some other time."' Sophie's original two sofas still sit in the open-plan living room, alongside a dining table, which seats 12. The kitchen, with its black Aga and bright pink walls, has a round table, where the family sit down for meals. The kitchen is a hub of activity where she devises recipes for her cookery books.

While the kitchen and living room are for entertaining, Sophie's pretty bedroom upstairs is her refuge. ‘I don't have a television or computer in my room. Once the door closes, modern life is shut outside; it's very peaceful.

I wake up between six and eight, then I run a bath and spend 10 minutes reading - anything from classics and period novels to poetry. I can't get enough. When I was at school, I suffered from dyslexia and standing up and reading in class was torture. I've never forgotten the misery of feeling that I was failing. I was useless at school - I didn't start reading until I was 17.'

‘Four years ago, I bought the flat next door and knocked it into mine, giving me a study off the living room and a small office. If I'm busy writing a cookery book or working on new designs, I often find that I haven't left the house for two days. I go out for meetings or cookery demonstrations and juggle that with spending time with the children. I love my work, but I'm happiest of all at the kitchen table in the evenings, playing board games with Felix and Coco. To me, there couldn't be a nicer way to end the day.'

Interview Amanda Cable; Photography Mark Scott