Well padded, looks just like the photo. Not difficult to put together, but my husband did have to shave a bit off of one of the slats which another reviewer had to do. All slats were the same size, it was because the parts are tight at the headboard and we could not get that slat in the length it was. Bought on sale around 320, worth what we paid for it, but definitely not worth the full list price given the type of construction. Shipping box arrived open and ripped with parts sticking out.  Fortunately the contents were fine.