I live in the basement of a remarkable house in Crystal Palace, London. It was built in 1890 for an admiral who liked to use his telescope. It has a glass lookout tower on the roof, balustraded balconies and ceramic tiles set into the facade.
This is my sitting room. I use the wall to look at my paintings from a distance. The flat has only three rooms, so every room has several different identities.
My ideal place to live would be a shed. I have owned a couple of spectacular ones in my time. I had one in Clapham that I bought from a plumbers' merchant, which had all sorts of trays and drawers. I had another in Devon in the middle of a town. I love the nice, informal atmosphere of a shed, and the way it is always changing. My flat definitely has something of the shed about it. When my grandsons stay, we have to squeeze into the same bed.
I do have a little greenhouse on my allotment. I have fantasies about moving in there, I have to say.
This is a rather ramshackle old sofa that my mother bought on the occasion of my first marriage. I had it upholstered in four different fabrics that my sister and I designed. It has a drop arm which does collapse rather alarmingly sometimes but it is useful when needed as a bed
I can’t remember where all of these are from, but I bought some of them in Ghana. I keep them so that my grandsons can make a noise. They don’t mind that granny has a small flat and no telly because we do funny things instead, like playing music and making models
Fragment of John Piper curtains
My mother was an actress and my father was a scientist. This is all that is left of their curtains, which they bought in the late 50s. I was brought up in a rather idiosyncratic family, and learnt that you could be creative and make a life, and that every idea was worth investigating .
This started as a painting of a bunch of flowers that a friend gave me last summer. M&S liked it, and decided to turn it into a duvet cover, which will be available soon. The background is indigo, turquoise and cream, getting lighter as you go up the bed
'The Collier Campbell Archive', by Emma Shackleton and Sarah Campbell, is out now (£50, ILEX)