Ruffles, ruffles everywhere?

All photos from Country Living

Ruffles are very popular these days. They are everywhere - on home furnishings, clothes, you name it. There was a time when I really didn't care for ruffles - too frilly I thought (which I admit is odd considering how girly I am). But I am coming around, I have to admit. There is a softness and romance there that appeals - something simple and feminine and inherently pretty. I have started looking for ways to soften the hard edges that sort of plague me in my current home. We live in a rental house (I own a great old house on the other coast, which we'll be moving back into in about three years) and so I am limited in what I can do. Painting, for example, is fine - knocking out walls, not so much. The house - a little old beach bungalow with lots of charm - for some reason feels very masculine to me. It always has. (Whereas the house I own, which is my little dream house, is very feminine.) It's not a complaint, really, because I am very blessed to live where I do, but more of an observation. And while I'm not interested in trying to wrestle the house into something it's not, I wouldn't mind if I could get it to let go of just a little of its masculinity. I'm wondering if swapping some of my linens and pillows for a few of these oh-so-trendy ruffles wouldn't be an idea. What do you think?

All photos from Country Living