I am a very late home owner.

Up until I bought this house in north London four years ago, I had been renting shared places. I was in my late thirties and had written three Charlie and Lola books. I was also in the process of starting work on The Princess and the Pea with my friend Polly Borland and we started shooting pictures for it here in the kitchen.

I think the reason I'm still living on my own is because I haven't got over the novelty of having all my own space. Before I moved in I was used to living in a bedroom with all my stuff. I found that quite hard, because it meant I could only ever have a few objects out around me, and the way I work means I like to spread out and be able to see all the materials I'm using, like wallpaper and bits of fabric.

I now work in various different places, such as on this kitchen table or in different parts of my house. I feel like I need to move around quite a lot. Ideas can come when you're just walking along the road or lying in the bath. It's not so much having them that is difficult but getting them out, so I do find, particularly with writing, that it's quite good to be in a different environment. If I just work in the same place, my mind seems to stagnate.

My mother used to have this joke with me when I was little that I used to arrange things in my room to look like a shop window, and when she came in here she said I still haven't grown out of it.

I just find it soothing. That's the reason I had the shelves built in this room - I really like showing off the different things that I own, like my china. Half the reason I buy things is just to look at them. I don't need them. Well, nobody needs 20 mugs, do they?

• Lauren Child was recently named Artist for Peace by Unesco. Her Clarice Bean series of books celebrates its 10th anniversary this year