Home & Garden, Tips & How To

Update on Our Master Bedroom

For the last month or so, I've been working on our master bedroom. It's not done yet...in fact, the features that I'm really looking forward to are not even started yet but I thought I'd show you all the changes so far, because the room looks really different.

I started by scraping the popcorn texture off of our ceiling and painting the ceiling and walls. 
I painted the walls with my sponge roller using Valspar 'Natural' and a little bit of  SW Deer Valley, giving them an uneven finish replicating Venetian plaster.  I painted the ceiling with just the Valspar 'Natural.'
This wool rug, from Royal Palace, used to be in our family room. I'm really glad I held on to it because it's exactly what I want in here now. I love the romantic feel it has and it has the perfect color of blue mixed in with the golds and roses.

The bedspread and pillow shams are from Overstock.com.  I love the weave of the bedspread and the romantic lines. I have our down comforter under it to give the rounded look.
It looks a little white in these pictures but it's a soft cream color.
These are the chairs from our living room.  They won't be staying in here but I brought them up to see what I wanted here. I like the neutral color and the style and will be keeping my eyes open for something similar to put in here.

I made the draperies out of a faux silk in Bluestone that I purchased at Warehousefabrics.com.  I lined them with a cream polyester and was surprised how light (as in not weighty) the finished draperies were. I made them long enough to puddle even when they're pulled back.  I wanted them to feel like a ball gown.

I still need to hang the mirror above our dresser.  I'm waiting until we get our 'beams' put up.  I've stained a dozen 8' long 2x4's and we're putting them up where you'd usually put crown moulding. They'll follow the slope of the ceiling and go all around the room at the top of the walls.
I found a fabric that I loved to make an abundance of throw pillows for the bed.  I ordered two yards and then received an email saying I had to order a minimum of five yards, so I'm deciding what to do.
I'm disappointed because I loved the color and pattern and thought it tied everything together nicely and brought the blue onto the bed. I've also ordered lots and lots of trim.
This is the same fringe that I trimmed out our pillows in the living room with.

Here's a picture of our bedroom before. I liked it but it wasn't as French as I would like. One of these chairs is now in our guest room and I'm planning on putting the other one in the basement. The color works perfectly in those rooms and I don't want to make new slipcovers for them.  I've given the rug and the draperies that were in here to our daughter.
This is also an old picture.  We're planning on putting double doors on this doorway to the bathroom, using a barn-door system.
I'm planning on painting the doors a distressed blue, similar to this picture.
This will add to the rustic romantic feel that I want in here.

So except for making a lot of throw pillows, my part is done. I've order the barn door system from Amazon and it's on its way. I'll buy the doors this week and get them painted. All the boards for the moulding are stained and ready for when my husband gets a chance to put them up.

We haven't done anything on our bathroom yet but now that winter is leaving, I'm going to try again to get some estimates.  

I've been working on some other small projects and will be back with those soon!

love and blessings~
"Behold, I will set your stones in turquoise, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. I will make your summits of rubies and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones."
Isaiah 54:11,12
Sources:
Bedspread and shams - Overstock.com
curtain fabric and trim - warehousefabrics.com
rug - QVC, Royal Palace about 12 years ago
chairs - second hand
blue damask fabric for pillows - decorativefabricsdirect.com

I'm joining these parties:

Standard
Home & Garden, Tips & How To

Update on Our Master Bedroom

For the last month or so, I've been working on our master bedroom. It's not done yet...in fact, the features that I'm really looking forward to are not even started yet but I thought I'd show you all the changes so far, because the room looks really different.

I started by scraping the popcorn texture off of our ceiling and painting the ceiling and walls. 
I painted the walls with my sponge roller using Valspar 'Natural' and a little bit of  SW Deer Valley, giving them an uneven finish replicating Venetian plaster.  I painted the ceiling with just the Valspar 'Natural.'
This wool rug, from Royal Palace, used to be in our family room. I'm really glad I held on to it because it's exactly what I want in here now. I love the romantic feel it has and it has the perfect color of blue mixed in with the golds and roses.

The bedspread and pillow shams are from Overstock.com.  I love the weave of the bedspread and the romantic lines. I have our down comforter under it to give the rounded look.
It looks a little white in these pictures but it's a soft cream color.
These are the chairs from our living room.  They won't be staying in here but I brought them up to see what I wanted here. I like the neutral color and the style and will be keeping my eyes open for something similar to put in here.

I made the draperies out of a faux silk in Bluestone that I purchased at Warehousefabrics.com.  I lined them with a cream polyester and was surprised how light (as in not weighty) the finished draperies were. I made them long enough to puddle even when they're pulled back.  I wanted them to feel like a ball gown.

I still need to hang the mirror above our dresser.  I'm waiting until we get our 'beams' put up.  I've stained a dozen 8' long 2x4's and we're putting them up where you'd usually put crown moulding. They'll follow the slope of the ceiling and go all around the room at the top of the walls.
I found a fabric that I loved to make an abundance of throw pillows for the bed.  I ordered two yards and then received an email saying I had to order a minimum of five yards, so I'm deciding what to do.
I'm disappointed because I loved the color and pattern and thought it tied everything together nicely and brought the blue onto the bed. I've also ordered lots and lots of trim.
This is the same fringe that I trimmed out our pillows in the living room with.

Here's a picture of our bedroom before. I liked it but it wasn't as French as I would like. One of these chairs is now in our guest room and I'm planning on putting the other one in the basement. The color works perfectly in those rooms and I don't want to make new slipcovers for them.  I've given the rug and the draperies that were in here to our daughter.
This is also an old picture.  We're planning on putting double doors on this doorway to the bathroom, using a barn-door system.
I'm planning on painting the doors a distressed blue, similar to this picture.
This will add to the rustic romantic feel that I want in here.

So except for making a lot of throw pillows, my part is done. I've order the barn door system from Amazon and it's on its way. I'll buy the doors this week and get them painted. All the boards for the moulding are stained and ready for when my husband gets a chance to put them up.

We haven't done anything on our bathroom yet but now that winter is leaving, I'm going to try again to get some estimates.  

I've been working on some other small projects and will be back with those soon!

love and blessings~
"Behold, I will set your stones in turquoise, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. I will make your summits of rubies and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones."
Isaiah 54:11,12
Sources:
Bedspread and shams - Overstock.com
curtain fabric and trim - warehousefabrics.com
rug - QVC, Royal Palace about 12 years ago
chairs - second hand
blue damask fabric for pillows - decorativefabricsdirect.com

I'm joining these parties:

Standard
Home & Garden, Tips & How To

Lots of Changes in the Living Room

I love fabric and will typically use a fabric as my starting off point for decorating any room. And I did that this time again - only my fabric was just a solid drop cloth.

I'd been feeling like our living room had gotten a little neutral for my liking and when I spotted this faux silk blue plaid at warehousefabricsinc.com, I thought it was perfect!  When the fabric arrived it even matched my robin's egg blue linen perfectly!

I knew that I wasn't satisfied with the slipcover I had made for the round ottoman in this room and thought this faux silk plaid would be perfect to reupholster it with and add some pattern.
I also ordered a beautiful fringe that had all the colors in it to match.
This new plaid also has all the same shades that's in the toile in this room!
With a little bit of furniture rearranging, I feel like I have a whole new room!
I replaced my floral door picture with some French Country cows for Fall.  They've been living in the basement for a while and were ready to come back out.  I didn't like my Blue and White with this new fabric so I gave my secretary a library feel, which I also like for Fall.
I made an overstuffed pillow for the couch out of the same fabric and added the matching fringe.
I put a mix of glass pumpkins and a beautiful teal glass vase filled with dried hydrangeas on a rustic basket tray.
 I've also moved another end table into the room and the mercury glass lamps that were in the family room. I'll probably paint the base of this table the same color as I've painted the others.  I just want to make sure that these changes are gonna stick! ;)
I reupholstered this ottoman with very little sewing.  I'll post later this week how I did it and how you can get perfectly spaced pleats without doing any math! :)

Hope your Summer had a great ending!

love and blessings~
"For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" Galatians 1:27,28

I'm joining these parties:
betweennapsontheporch
thededicatedhouse
homeremediesrx
savvysouthernstyle
thriftydecorchick
commonground
frommyfrontporchtoyours
impartinggrace
andersonandgrant
frenchcountrycottage
lifeonlakeshoredrive.
oursouthernhomesc
karensuponthehill

Standard
Home & Garden, Tips & How To

Lots of Changes in the Living Room

I love fabric and will typically use a fabric as my starting off point for decorating any room. And I did that this time again - only my fabric was just a solid drop cloth.

I'd been feeling like our living room had gotten a little neutral for my liking and when I spotted this faux silk blue plaid at warehousefabricsinc.com, I thought it was perfect!  When the fabric arrived it even matched my robin's egg blue linen perfectly!

I knew that I wasn't satisfied with the slipcover I had made for the round ottoman in this room and thought this faux silk plaid would be perfect to reupholster it with and add some pattern.
I also ordered a beautiful fringe that had all the colors in it to match.
This new plaid also has all the same shades that's in the toile in this room!
With a little bit of furniture rearranging, I feel like I have a whole new room!
I replaced my floral door picture with some French Country cows for Fall.  They've been living in the basement for a while and were ready to come back out.  I didn't like my Blue and White with this new fabric so I gave my secretary a library feel, which I also like for Fall.
I made an overstuffed pillow for the couch out of the same fabric and added the matching fringe.
I put a mix of glass pumpkins and a beautiful teal glass vase filled with dried hydrangeas on a rustic basket tray.
 I've also moved another end table into the room and the mercury glass lamps that were in the family room. I'll probably paint the base of this table the same color as I've painted the others.  I just want to make sure that these changes are gonna stick! ;)
I reupholstered this ottoman with very little sewing.  I'll post later this week how I did it and how you can get perfectly spaced pleats without doing any math! :)

Hope your Summer had a great ending!

love and blessings~
"For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" Galatians 1:27,28

I'm joining these parties:
betweennapsontheporch
thededicatedhouse
homeremediesrx
savvysouthernstyle
thriftydecorchick
commonground
frommyfrontporchtoyours
impartinggrace
andersonandgrant
frenchcountrycottage
lifeonlakeshoredrive.
oursouthernhomesc
karensuponthehill

Standard
Home & Garden, Tips & How To

End of Summer Welcome

It's too early for pumpkins and the leaves are still green on the trees but you can definitely feel Fall in the air here in Michigan.  Our town's population has increased by about 10,000 this weekend as college classes start today.  So Big Rapids is hopping!

I'm hosting a Bible study in my home this Fall and Winter so it's so much fun to decorate knowing that others will enjoy it weekly.  "Others" being women - that is!  Not 6'4" basketball players that don't notice anything except how many cows I have in my kitchen! lol

I was at the market this week and spotted a bucket full of sunflowers.  And what says 'end of Summer' and French Country more than sunflowers, dried Lavender and ripe apples?

There's fresh wood in the basket next to the fireplace. (Our fireplace actually has a gas log that puts out wonderful heat, but one day my daughter said, "Every time I see that basket of wood, I keep thinking the fire is real!"  So that's enough reason for me to keep it there!)


And the throws in the basket next to the couch are freshly washed.  I love when guests pile onto our couch Indian-style,  wrapped in a throw, and we share our lives with each other.





There's a new 'Welcome Sign' and some beautiful multi-colored mums at our front door to greet our guests as they arrive.

Please don't notice that one of my mums is all broken.  It was the victim of a basketball. lol  (I'm going to pretend like I didn't notice. I'll miss him so much when he moves out!)

I made the Welcome sign and will share with you how I did it later this week.  When the leaves turn and the pumpkins are ripe, I'll add them to the mix.

And I love when the first thing my guests say when they enter my house is how good it smells! I always have a scented candle, or two, burning. I match them to the seasons and this time of year it smells like spiced apples, spiced oranges or caramel.  And I don't even have to bake!  ;)

On another topic, one of my other son's friends told me recently how much he liked the rug at the front door!  lol  He said it felt so good on his feet.  You would have been so proud of me!  I just smiled and said, 'Thank you!' and didn't tell him how mad I was at it.  My Dirt Rug

Our Bible study group is going to be reading and discussing two books that I have gained so much from - "There Were Two Trees in the Garden" by Rick Joyner and  "What the Bible Says About Child Training" by Richard Fugate (links to Amazon)  God willing, I'm going to post our topics on my other blog Summits of Rubies.  And I'd love to have you follow along and share if you'd like!

Have a great day!

love and blessings~


 "I will tell of Your name to my brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You."
 Psalms 22:22









Standard
Home & Garden, Tips & How To

End of Summer Welcome

It's too early for pumpkins and the leaves are still green on the trees but you can definitely feel Fall in the air here in Michigan.  Our town's population has increased by about 10,000 this weekend as college classes start today.  So Big Rapids is hopping!

I'm hosting a Bible study in my home this Fall and Winter so it's so much fun to decorate knowing that others will enjoy it weekly.  "Others" being women - that is!  Not 6'4" basketball players that don't notice anything except how many cows I have in my kitchen! lol

I was at the market this week and spotted a bucket full of sunflowers.  And what says 'end of Summer' and French Country more than sunflowers, dried Lavender and ripe apples?

There's fresh wood in the basket next to the fireplace. (Our fireplace actually has a gas log that puts out wonderful heat, but one day my daughter said, "Every time I see that basket of wood, I keep thinking the fire is real!"  So that's enough reason for me to keep it there!)


And the throws in the basket next to the couch are freshly washed.  I love when guests pile onto our couch Indian-style,  wrapped in a throw, and we share our lives with each other.





There's a new 'Welcome Sign' and some beautiful multi-colored mums at our front door to greet our guests as they arrive.

Please don't notice that one of my mums is all broken.  It was the victim of a basketball. lol  (I'm going to pretend like I didn't notice. I'll miss him so much when he moves out!)

I made the Welcome sign and will share with you how I did it later this week.  When the leaves turn and the pumpkins are ripe, I'll add them to the mix.

And I love when the first thing my guests say when they enter my house is how good it smells! I always have a scented candle, or two, burning. I match them to the seasons and this time of year it smells like spiced apples, spiced oranges or caramel.  And I don't even have to bake!  ;)

On another topic, one of my other son's friends told me recently how much he liked the rug at the front door!  lol  He said it felt so good on his feet.  You would have been so proud of me!  I just smiled and said, 'Thank you!' and didn't tell him how mad I was at it.  My Dirt Rug

Our Bible study group is going to be reading and discussing two books that I have gained so much from - "There Were Two Trees in the Garden" by Rick Joyner and  "What the Bible Says About Child Training" by Richard Fugate (links to Amazon)  God willing, I'm going to post our topics on my other blog Summits of Rubies.  And I'd love to have you follow along and share if you'd like!

Have a great day!

love and blessings~


 "I will tell of Your name to my brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You."
 Psalms 22:22









Standard
Home & Garden, Tips & How To

End of Summer French Blue Shutters

The weather has really been cool here in Michigan the last week.  I think fall is so beautiful, especially here,  but the summers here are short and mild and autumn is followed by a long, cold, snowy winter.  And I honestly get a little sad when I realize summer is ending.  So I cheered myself up with a little paint!

Recently I changed my rug in my living room.  I'm really happy with this rug in here but the jute rug that was here before was medium brown and added a little more contrasting color to this room.  The wool rug is the same color as the furniture and has washed things out a bit.

The thought that 'I can re-paint my shutters' has always been in back of my mind and this seemed like a good time to see if changing them would add a little more color drama to the room.

I painted all the shutters in this area.
I am really liking the contrast now.  The shutters were originally painted SW Interesting Aqua and SW Rain and darkened a little with SW Seal.



The new color I mixed here at home but is more of a French Blue.  I left some of the old, lighter and darker colors showing - giving them a worn look.
 My Endless Summer hydrangeas were starting to fade so I filled this copper pot and put them on the dining room table to dry.  I love the beautiful mix of colors!
My Strawberry Shortcake hydrangeas are all still beautiful and slowly turning pink at the bottom of each bloom.
I think the darker color is perfect and gives a new dimension to these rooms.  


The shutters in the family room are still the lighter color.  I always want these rooms to coordinate, because they're open to each other, but I like that there's also a difference now.

Have a wonderful weekend!

love and blessings~

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."  Philippians 4:8

Joining these linky parties:
/thecharmofhome
frenchcountrycottage
too-much-time
tatertotsandjello
cedarhillfarmhouse
stonegableblog
cupcakesandcrinoline
thededicatedhouse
Standard
Home & Garden, Tips & How To

End of Summer French Blue Shutters

The weather has really been cool here in Michigan the last week.  I think fall is so beautiful, especially here,  but the summers here are short and mild and autumn is followed by a long, cold, snowy winter.  And I honestly get a little sad when I realize summer is ending.  So I cheered myself up with a little paint!

Recently I changed my rug in my living room.  I'm really happy with this rug in here but the jute rug that was here before was medium brown and added a little more contrasting color to this room.  The wool rug is the same color as the furniture and has washed things out a bit.

The thought that 'I can re-paint my shutters' has always been in back of my mind and this seemed like a good time to see if changing them would add a little more color drama to the room.

I painted all the shutters in this area.
I am really liking the contrast now.  The shutters were originally painted SW Interesting Aqua and SW Rain and darkened a little with SW Seal.



The new color I mixed here at home but is more of a French Blue.  I left some of the old, lighter and darker colors showing - giving them a worn look.
 My Endless Summer hydrangeas were starting to fade so I filled this copper pot and put them on the dining room table to dry.  I love the beautiful mix of colors!
My Strawberry Shortcake hydrangeas are all still beautiful and slowly turning pink at the bottom of each bloom.
I think the darker color is perfect and gives a new dimension to these rooms.  


The shutters in the family room are still the lighter color.  I always want these rooms to coordinate, because they're open to each other, but I like that there's also a difference now.

Have a wonderful weekend!

love and blessings~

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."  Philippians 4:8

Joining these linky parties:
/thecharmofhome
frenchcountrycottage
too-much-time
tatertotsandjello
cedarhillfarmhouse
stonegableblog
cupcakesandcrinoline
thededicatedhouse
Standard
Home & Garden, Tips & How To

From "Farmhouse" to "French Country" – Part Two

Hi all!!

We have had a very busy couple of weeks here as our summer vacation comes to an end. Our middle son has been staying with us since June.  We've enjoyed his visit so much but he will be taking off for San Francisco soon.  And my husband, a college professor, and youngest son will be going back to college classes next week.

So my house will go from busy and a little chaotic at times to quiet and empty all day long. And I will get back to projects.  In the mean time, I'm fitting as much fun into the last of summer as I can.

I had made a commitment not to paint this summer but I didn't make it!  I finally broke down and finished painting the kitchen cabinets and all the cabinetry that's in the family room.  And I was so happy about it that I was sorry I waited so long - lol.


My son took this picture of me painting.  I posted it on my Gates of Crystal Facebook page and it went viral.  HA!

You know I'm just kidding.  He was actually taking a picture of his brother and I was in the background.  When I loaded my pictures onto my computer, there it was.  (I cropped out my son.)


But we've finished two projects in the kitchen that I have wanted to do for a while!  One of them is these fabulous X's!  The X's are just 2" wide pine boards.  We framed out the sides where needed and fit the x's inside.   We then caulked any gaps, primed and painted.

We added an X to all four ends of our cabinetry. When I got to the cabinet in the dining room,  it was going to be the only X that was the SW Seal Brown and I didn't like that.
But the other project was adding feet to our cabinets. So I re-re-painted this section the light Sand color and made the brown section look like an independent cabinet with the feet.

I'm so happy with this now.  I love the contrast of colors but I love having more of the lighter color.  I also repainted the bar stool area the lighter color.

I bought the feet at Lowe's.  They are furniture feet and were the perfect size.  We found out that the height between the floor and the bottom of each cabinet varied and the feet were too short in some places.

Rather than add to the top of each foot and remove the quarter-round moulding in the areas where there is hardwood floors, we added a small piece to the bottom of the feet. We had a dowling rod that was the exact width of the bottom of the foot. This made the bottom of the foot narrow enough to miss the quarter round.


The wet bar sink in this area is brass.  We've tried to pull it out to replace it but it must be "glued" in. So I have a plan to change it which I will post when it's finished.

We've ordered our new stove (gas stainless) and I've picked out tile for the back splash and am hoping to have that all put in before our stove arrives.

I love the 'custom look' the feet and X's have added.  And the French Country feel.

I told my husband he was almost done!  He doesn't believe me.  Poor man.
From Farmhouse to French Country Part One

Have a wonderful day!

love and blessings~
"For I satisfy the weary ones and refresh everyone who languishes."  Jeremiah 31:25


I'm joining these parties: commongroundimpartinggrace/lessthanperfectlifeofblissfrenchcountrycottagethecharmofhomeshabbynestRattlebridgeFarmdwellings-theheartofyourhomeoursouthernhomescbetweennapsontheporchkarensuponthehillcoastalcharmastrollthrulifesavvysouthernstyletatertotsandjellocedarhillfarmhousecupcakesandcrinoline
Standard
Home & Garden, Tips & How To

From "Farmhouse" to "French Country" – Part Two

Hi all!!

We have had a very busy couple of weeks here as our summer vacation comes to an end. Our middle son has been staying with us since June.  We've enjoyed his visit so much but he will be taking off for San Francisco soon.  And my husband, a college professor, and youngest son will be going back to college classes next week.

So my house will go from busy and a little chaotic at times to quiet and empty all day long. And I will get back to projects.  In the mean time, I'm fitting as much fun into the last of summer as I can.

I had made a commitment not to paint this summer but I didn't make it!  I finally broke down and finished painting the kitchen cabinets and all the cabinetry that's in the family room.  And I was so happy about it that I was sorry I waited so long - lol.


My son took this picture of me painting.  I posted it on my Gates of Crystal Facebook page and it went viral.  HA!

You know I'm just kidding.  He was actually taking a picture of his brother and I was in the background.  When I loaded my pictures onto my computer, there it was.  (I cropped out my son.)


But we've finished two projects in the kitchen that I have wanted to do for a while!  One of them is these fabulous X's!  The X's are just 2" wide pine boards.  We framed out the sides where needed and fit the x's inside.   We then caulked any gaps, primed and painted.

We added an X to all four ends of our cabinetry. When I got to the cabinet in the dining room,  it was going to be the only X that was the SW Seal Brown and I didn't like that.
But the other project was adding feet to our cabinets. So I re-re-painted this section the light Sand color and made the brown section look like an independent cabinet with the feet.

I'm so happy with this now.  I love the contrast of colors but I love having more of the lighter color.  I also repainted the bar stool area the lighter color.

I bought the feet at Lowe's.  They are furniture feet and were the perfect size.  We found out that the height between the floor and the bottom of each cabinet varied and the feet were too short in some places.

Rather than add to the top of each foot and remove the quarter-round moulding in the areas where there is hardwood floors, we added a small piece to the bottom of the feet. We had a dowling rod that was the exact width of the bottom of the foot. This made the bottom of the foot narrow enough to miss the quarter round.


The wet bar sink in this area is brass.  We've tried to pull it out to replace it but it must be "glued" in. So I have a plan to change it which I will post when it's finished.

We've ordered our new stove (gas stainless) and I've picked out tile for the back splash and am hoping to have that all put in before our stove arrives.

I love the 'custom look' the feet and X's have added.  And the French Country feel.

I told my husband he was almost done!  He doesn't believe me.  Poor man.
From Farmhouse to French Country Part One

Have a wonderful day!

love and blessings~
"For I satisfy the weary ones and refresh everyone who languishes."  Jeremiah 31:25


I'm joining these parties: commongroundimpartinggrace/lessthanperfectlifeofblissfrenchcountrycottagethecharmofhomeshabbynestRattlebridgeFarmdwellings-theheartofyourhomeoursouthernhomescbetweennapsontheporchkarensuponthehillcoastalcharmastrollthrulifesavvysouthernstyletatertotsandjellocedarhillfarmhousecupcakesandcrinoline
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