Love this bed! My husband put it together easily, only needed my help holding up the headboard when it was time to add the sides, etc. It took him about 1 12 hours. We kept our box springs because we have a tempurpedic mattress it would have been too low for my liking without them. It is kind of high now but I like it. It does make the headboard a bit shorter looking since the mattress sits higher but I still love it. Also, some comments said the light gray looked taupe- not the case, it is truly light gray! I was actually hoping it would be kind of taupe but the gray works.