This is by far the hardest piece of furniture I have put together and I've put over twenty pieces together in the last three weeks. You build the base, then you build the second "story" and somehow you're supposed to stack it on top and get all the pegs and holes lined up and fitted (there's a lot) and the have it be close enough to actually screw in bolts. There was a lot of hammering that went on and that was no where in the directions but was the only way I could get the pieces together as they did not fit without force. Then putting the slots on top was another form of crazy as you try to screw them in without bending the screws from the weight of the wood- a huge balancing act definitely requiring at least two people. And time- LOTS of time. Took about 5 hours, maybe more. I would not buy this again.