Comment away!)
Name: Philip Wood and Tania Ketenjian
Location: San Francisco
Size: 1000 sq ft
Years lived in: 2
When you imagine the home of Philip Wood, the Creative Director of CITIZEN:Citizen, and his wife, Tania Ketenjian, a journalist, you probably would envision a MoMA like atmosphere of carefully curated objects. Not so! Their home is a labor of love that is a reflection of their lives, past and present. It's decorated with significant items from friends and family, and virtually all of the furniture was designed and built by Philip, who is a trained carpenter. Their home is busy but uncluttered, and it's a very good example of an efficient use of space.
My/Our style: rural English woodworker meets Persian princess whilst on library tour
The inspiration for my home: Falling in love with someone and sharing a life and a space
Favorite element: the light. the calming feeling that the home just came with. the plants. the plum blossom.
Biggest challenge in designing my home: paying the mortgage
What friends say about my home: that it's comfortable and they feel welcomed
Biggest embarrassment in my home: I have none
Proudest DIY: I designed and built all the furniture…….…………………………….
Best advice given or received: be yourself... and add a glass door the your back room (ample backyard view!)
Thanks, Philip and Tania!
When leaving comments about the home,
play nice or you'll be asked to leave the sandbox.)
-sally
Link: CITIZEN:Citizen
Other Posts by Sally:
Andy & Andrew's Vintage Modern
Quick Cleaning Tip: Keep Baseboards Cleaner With Fabric Softner
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Eileen Fisher Washe...
15 Essential Building Blocks for Quick Weeknight Meals
Summer Recipe: No-Bake Strawberry Icebox Cake
Comments (21)
I like the brevity of the intro, and I really like how the owners answered the questions. And of course I like the home very much, though I was a little frustrated by all the close-ups and not enough whole-room shots.
What a great house! Very inspiring, and very San Francisco. More pics would have been great. Wider shots, but more details as well. I would like to see more of the interesting tiling in the bathroom, I like the built in shelf over the shower. And how was that great table from logs built, and the fancy drawer/quilt looking thing as well? For me, an explanation of what Citizen is would have been enlightening as well.
Joan, thanks! I was frustrated by the lack of whole-room shots as well... Unfortunately when I was snapping the pics I realized that it would be near impossible to do whole-room shots because most of the rooms are very narrow.
Such a nice place, unique furnitures and feels like home!
I love the table and stool (or are they the same piece?), and have the same question as SFGail. Makes me want to build a smaller version, but where to start?
Love the wood floors and that textured vase on the dining room table. Designed and built all furniture?! Wow! Very cool. I would also love to see more pics of that bathroom. What gorgeous tile!
Ah, to be able to leave the door open...
Flickr photos of the bathroom?
Oooh... I'd love to show you all the bathroom. It's so blue(tiful)!
Unfortunately it's also very small, and the door leading into it doesn't give you a clear shot. Sorry guys!
Nice. Very masculine. Men decorate differently than women. I love the LCW, best chair of the 20th century.
Is that a double-stacked Expedit in the living room? If so, very clever. I've had the same idea, but no place to try it. Nice to see that it looks as great as I'd imagined.
i love all the rugs in the house... do they all come from the same place?
Beautiful. I've never thought of stacking Expedit before, but now....IKEA has a 2x4 Expedit, and my question is this: if I turned it sideways, and stacked 3 (to make 4x6 cubby unit), the top and bottom would then be the sides. Do you think the unit would be stable enough?
They are bargain basement designers e.g. a doorstop for $3,500. The log-bound table is $2,500.
The chest of drawers that is so yummy is made using a Japanese method for creating veneer as to not waste any small part of valuable timbers left over from other projects.
You glue blocks of wood together like a layer cake, then thinly slice it creating a striped veneer which is then glued onto a base material just like other veneers.
If you stack the wood together in different ways you can get sliced checkerboard, shading etc. The blocks don't have to be square - you can fit one piece inside another to make patterns after slicing. Think of carving several 'tubes' into an interlocking houndstooth then slicing from the end.
At that level, it's in the 'national living treasure' class of artisan. The chest pictured here is a beginner's piece.
Are those 2 Ikea bookcases stacked on top of each other?
They look great that way, but I'm wondering what exactly they did to enforce them.
They are kind of wobbly on their own, and I'd be afraid they'd topple over without some kind of support.
Really lovely. Just the exterior shot makes me long for my days in San Francisco. Of course, I was single and childless...
Anyway, I am intrigued by the glass/plexi (?) table. I love the structure of the base and think it looks wonderful combined with the more "earthy" rug below.
Would you divulge a source for the table. Don't tell me that you made that too!
Kim
That was the best "my/our style" ever!
I also really loved that wood coffee table, it's gorgeous.
Let me offer some answers to some of your questions!
Yes, that bookshelf is simply two Expedit's on top of each other. Clever, eh? I know IKEA offers wall mounting support (on the top of taller bookcases), so perhaps they used something like that. It won't be difficult or expensive to get those Expedit's secured to the wall.
The Plexi table is called the Butterfly and it was original produced by CITIZEN:Citizen. What you see in their living room is the prototype. Zanotta (manufacturer) picked it up and now sells it, but in a wood base.
Hope I've helped!
Lovely. I'd kill to live in Noe Valley!
One thing - edit the coffee tables. WAY too much on them.
Fantastic tour, Sally. Really fun to see inside the dwelling of such admirable design minds... now, if you can get me a library card to their book collection, I would be elated!
It's wonderful to read everyones comments and thoughts, I thought I could help in answering some questions. Thanks Sally for your kind words and making the tour of our house it was lovely as always to have your round.
So, yes, most of the furniture was designed and made by myself whilst I was running a furniture design business in England. There are a few key pieces that are by other people, the tall striped chest is designed by Wales & Wales who are I think some of the most important British cabinet makers, their work is also featured in the V&A's permanent collection, it's my favorite piece in the house. The glass coffee table was as Sally noted in the post above designed by Alexander Taylor, also the grey sofa is his design too, one that we prototyped several years ago.
The log coffee table is a piece that we produce, it's by FredriksonStallard and is one of my favorite pieces in our collection, the one in our house is an early prototype, we always end up with the prototypes.
Anyway if anyone has any further questions feel free to email me, philip@citizen-citizen.com
Philip & Tania,
I think you home is so unique!
I am a location scout in the Bay Area. I am always looking for great decorating stories for Better Homes & Gardens, Decorating Magazine, Home Magazine, Creative Home, amongst others. I would love the opportunity to submit your home to a couple magazines. Might you be interested in possibly being published? Feel free to contact me if you would like to hear a little more about it.
Thanks! Sarah Alba albaworks@gmail.com
this is wonderful, I can't believe you built all of the furniture, that is mind boggling!