The bed arrived in three separate HEAVY boxes - all three required two people to carry upstairs to our third floor apartment. The directions to assemble the bed were very difficult to understand, so there were multiple times that we had to go back to redo an earlier step that wasn't clear. However, the finished product is as exactly as advertised - sturdy, attractive, and in perfect condition. We did not have any issues with finish like other reviewers described. The white paint is not see-through at all. My 5 and 3 year old girls love it.