Each week, Randy Rubin, co-owner of Crypton, features several articles or blogs that resonate with Crypton’s core goals: providing clean, beautiful design for everyday living.

Everyday living means life with kids, pets, and anything else that finds a way into your home. Below are just a few thoughts and ideas we are inspired by this month.

Material Girls: Like some of our featured reads last month, this blog is packed with photos to inspire contemporary design. Check out the post showcasing the many iterations of BarcelonaChairs (and Crypton’s version , while you’re at it)

How do I select beautiful furniture that will work with my pets?: The Denver Post Homegirls blog met with Tennille Wood to hand out tips on decorating with pets – including special tips for any “chewers or scratchers.” Wood, an interior designer, also blogs about luxury style at Beautiful Habitat.

Decorating in a Downturn – Part 3

This is the final piece of a three-part series on decorating on a budget from guest blogger Debbie Wiener. Debbie is a DC-based interior designer and author of the top-selling book, “Slob Proof! Real life Design Solutions.” She has also recently partnered with Crypton to develop the Slobproof! Collection – a colorful line of Crypton-covered furniture designed with busy households in mind. You can find more information about Debbie, and links to purchase Slobproof! furniture pieces at www.slobproof.com

Wite it out! Keep the correction fluid “Wite Out” on hand for quick corrections to white cabinetry, doors, wood trim and even white tile grout! It quickly covers flaws, dings and damage until you have the time to re-paint. Got scratches on painted furniture and walls? Sharpie permanent ink markers come in dozens of colors and can be used to camouflage marks on furniture legs, walls, picture frames…just about anything in color.

Using Wite Out to hide a small nick

Do the Flip! Rotate sofa cushions to hide wear and tear and to extend the life of your seating. Got a spot on that seat cushion? Turn it over and keep the clean side up when company comes. Rotate your area rug to extend its life span and even out the wear and tear. You may even be able to hide spots and stains under furniture with this simple move.

Debbie Wiener is an interior designer in Silver Spring, MD and head matriarch of a house full of slobs. She’s also the author of the top selling book, “Slob Proof! Real life Design Solutions” from Penguin Press. You can send Debbie your designing dilemmas by visiting her website www.mydesigningsolutions.com

Decorating in a Downturn – Part 2

In the next week, we have a three-part series on decorating on a budget from guest blogger Debbie Wiener. Debbie is a DC-based interior designer and author of the top-selling book, “Slob Proof! Real life Design Solutions.” She has also recently partnered with Crypton to develop the Slobproof! Collection – a colorful line of Crypton-covered furniture designed with busy households in mind.

You can find more information about Debbie, and links to purchase Slobproof! furniture at www.slobproof.com

1. Follow the three R’s! Re-mat, re-frame and re-arrange your art and photos to update wall and table-top displays. Replace white and off-white matting with something fresh and colorful- grass green, pumpkin orange or periwinkle blue. Try a few new frames to give new life to your photos. Check out the assortment at www.exposures.com 

This room has a gallery look from a day of re-matting, reframing and re-arranging at a do-it-yourself frame shop. 

2.  Toss It! If you can’t afford to change the sofa and chairs, change your toss pillows! Soft, down-filled pillows in unexpected patterns and colors will make the seating look new and feel luxurious. My favorite sources include www.blissstudio.com and www.companyc.com.

It’s the pillows that make this window nook an inviting place to sit.

3. Light it Up! Nothing makes modest rooms look impressive like good lighting. Start by lighting up room perimeters to make small spaces look large and dramatic. Inexpensive canister uplighting, purchased in home stores, fits inside floor plants and behind furniture to add Hollywood style accent lighting along room walls.

Battery-operated flameless votive candles use LED bulbs for realistic and long-lasting candle light that’s perfect in groupings. Add them down the middle of a long dining table, along a fireplace mantel or on shelving for soft, zen-like room lighting. Upgrade the standard bulbs in your recessed lights and lamps to halogen to ensure you’re getting the brightest, whitest light possible from your existing fixtures.

Debbie Wiener is an interior designer in Silver Spring, MD and head matriarch of a house full of slobs. She’s also the author of the top selling book, “Slob Proof! Real life Design solutions” from Penguin Press. You can send Debbie your designing dilemmas by visiting her website www.mydesigningsolutions.com

Stay tuned next week for more of Debbie’s design tips on a budget….

Each week, Randy Rubin, co-owner of Crypton, features several articles or blogs that resonate with Crypton’s core goals: providing clean, beautiful design for everyday living.

Everyday living means life with kids, pets, and anything else that finds a way into your home. Below are just a few thoughts and ideas we are inspired by this month.

Making it Lovely : Nicole Bauch is the author of this décor blog and chronicles her journey to transform her “so-so house into a lovely home.” She does so with fun photos and a keen eye for style. Check out her post on installing a petdoor,where she shares a few musings on adapting the ideals of home design for the needs of everyday life.

Lonny Magazine: Packed to the brim with style and interior design, editor Michelle Adams and her team have created a truly innovative concept – an online magazine that feels like a printed one. Adams herself also blogs at M.A. Belle,where the topic of conversation often includes one of our favorite things – eco-friendly interior design.