Design & interiors: At home with the perfumier Lyn Harris

Walking up the elegant, curved staircase that leads to the top-floor home of Lyn Harris, classically trained "nose" and the woman behind Miller Harris, the prestigious UK-based perfume house, one can't help wondering what fragrances are going to assail the nostrils. Will her abode be awash with attar of roses? A hint of hyacinth? A miasma of musk? In fact, inside Harris's airy flat, the only scent is that of the apple she's eating. Yet it is a treat to the eyes if not the nose. Full of light even on a cloudy day, its many windows look out on to the tree tops of leafy Primrose Hill.

"I like being high up," says Harris of her eyrie, where she lives with her partner Christophe Michel and their two-year-old son Henri. "It's very private and on this road there's so much distance between the other houses that you feel like you're in the countryside. I can see trees from every window. I really get a sense of the seasons in this flat, I can see and feel when they change and that's essential in my work." Although she moved to her current home five years ago, 39-year-old Harris has spent two decades in the area. "I'm a Primrose Hill girl through and through," she says. "I went into the village just now and I know everyone. I love that aspect of living here. If I forget my purse somewhere, or something happens, people look out for you."

Despite the old-fashioned charms of the area – and the house in which her flat is situated – Harris's home is resolutely modern, with white walls, floor-to-ceiling mirrors and sleek, flat-fronted cupboards. Is she a dedicated Modernist then? "Not at all. The modern look in here just developed because I wanted to make it feel really open," says Harris. "I didn't feel that I wanted really vibrant wallpapers or anything like that – although I do love that kind of thing. I just wanted white walls and I wanted to add colour with the furniture, which is very much what I did." In the open-plan living area a dazzling lime green Kartell chair sourced in Italy clashes wonderfully with a neon-pink coffee table that Harris discovered in the Sontou gallery in Paris, proving that this way of adding colour to the flat works brilliantly.

"Every feature you see, I put in," she explains. "When we first bought the flat it was completely different. It was really Sixties and the layout was the opposite of what it is now. There were two bedrooms where the living space is and our bedroom was the living space. The kitchen was in the same place but the flat was divided by a central corridor. It blocked off a lot of light." It took the architect Francesco Draisci three months to turn the flat around. Plus a little help from Christophe's brother. "Most of the furniture we've had made by my brother-in-law who is the most amazing furniture-maker."

In the kitchen, alongside a sleek table made by this talented family member, a fridge covered with family photos sits next to an enormous oven. "That's Christophe's," admits Harris. "He's a great chef. He cooks all the time while I look after the aesthetics!" And this, she explains, requires regular tidying. "There's tidy and then there's Lyn Harris tidy! We're lucky because we have lots of storage." Even in Henri's bedroom, neatness reigns. But behind the tall white cupboards, a riot of colour lurks: in Henri's room it's orange; blue for the master bedroom. Another eye-catching feature is the glass shelves filled with ranks of perfume bottles that catch the light like jewels. The lab, in the basement of one of her shops, is where Harris has created more than 20 fragrances and where she spends much of her working life. She does, however, value her time at home, where she says she spends quite a bit of time. "At night, when I'm home, I really like to be surrounded by my candles and to be able to wear a little bit of fragrance," she says. "I can't wear anything during the day because I'm in the lab so I really cherish weekends when I can set themes with scent."

On a pillar next to the kitchen is a group of photographs by Harris's friend, the photographer Derek Thompson, which show vast swathes of sky – appropriate for this home in the clouds. Does Harris see herself staying here forever? "Because we've started a family we're debating whether we need to find somewhere else. I keep saying 'we can make do' because I love it here so much." And while the flat might not seem the perfect place for young children at first glance – those stairs must be hard work with an infant in tow – Harris is unfazed. "I've never thought twice about the stairs – carrying Henri up here never bothered me." And not only does the family have the greenery of the Hill practically on their doorstep, they have a sky-high secret. "We've got a roof terrace in between two roofs which is gorgeous," she smiles. One more reason why this Primrose Hill girl won't be going anywhere else if she can possibly avoid it.