The bench is high quality solid wood. I love the shade (acorn) very much and find that it's the perfect height. I measured the space I want it in badly, so it's a little too long for what I need, but I've adjusted because I didn't feel like sending it back. Assembling it was pretty easy, you just need to tighten two bolts for each leg, but the bottom bolt is tough because the top one is in the way. Took less than 10 minutes though.