Assembly wasn't hard if you have done IKEA furniture before. The desk is sturdy and looks almost the way it is in the picture. I say almost because the surface is dull and not as rich/shiny as in the picture. Also, I took a star because the front door were hard to adjust and they rubbed a little to the base/bottom and took some paint off. Otherwise, we like it. The Fire place colors look great. We haven't turned on the heater yet.