The chair came in a very strong and well packaged box. The whole base is already assembled. You slide the top half on brackets and 2 side pieces. You screw the legs on and it’s done. They color is dark but modern. The mail heads are a nice shiny silver. A large person could not fit in this chair. The seating is not wide like a traditional recliner. The manual recline position is a bit hard for me to do. I’m short at 5’3, so I put my legs up on the seat and push back with my arms. It’s a firm recliner not plush but that is what I wanted. I sit in it for work because I have a bad back. I love this chair and would definitely recommend it.