This was/is an excellent purchase for the money. It was easy to put together and it's sturdy. The picture is representative of the product itself. You can easily fir 4 pairs of shoes on each level, and there is room under the bottom bars for a third row of shoes you can put on the floor underneath. The bench is obviously removable, so if you care to reupholster later, you can. But the material it comes with is fine - a dark brown micro-suede of some sort.