It smells quite strong & unpleasant but mostly aired out after a week or so. It looks more like velour than velvet. It was fiddly but I (small female) managed to assemble it by myself. The size is as expected, the seat cushions are soft but the backrest is quite hard and upright, those cushions are thin. Seems comfortable as a guest bed from my quick test-laying, surprisingly soft with give. It's easy and takes no time for one person to pull the bed in and out. There are clear instruction stickers for the order to pull and unfold the bed, which is very helpful. There's a lose support beam at the edge of the bed which keeps falling off, it's supposed to stabilise the edge but doesn't keep in place. Bought on sale and all in all seems worth it for the price. Some nicer scatter cushions easily dresses this somewhat cheap looking couch up and as a spare room sofa bed it's fine for me.