Athena has been fine out of the crate since about 5 months. She's always been very good in the house. She never touched shoes or furniture. So as long as we had all the pencils out of her reach, it was ok. She loved pencils. She did chew the window sill during her first heat cycle, but that was it.
D'Argo hasn't been in a crate since about the same age. He's actually more destructive when we are home. He'll just walk around and grab everything and destroy it. The top of my piano is full of stuff that doesn't really belong there because it's one of the few places he can't reach. He eats shoes, furniture, cats, the carpet... He also likes to dig through the garbage. Sometimes I have to put the garbage can on the dining room table. I think once he realizes that he's big and athletic, he'll be able to get up there.
Oddly, when we leave the house, he just seems to sleep. Mostly.