beautiful shelf and looks sturdy without being bulky.  seems sturdy though i haven't started decorating it yet.  took my husband around an hour to put together.  he said it didn't feel flimsy either.  i have beige walls and was torn between the chocolate colored and white one but eventually got the white one because it looked better in the product picture.  turns out the white one does look great against beige walls.  i also like the backless feature so you can run cables behind if you need or you can make your own back if you want to add color.