I love, love, love this bed! The color is exactly what I expected.  I ordered the charcoal and it blends with the gold/gray decor in my room. It was easy to put together.  It took two of us less than an hour. I used a pillow top mattress and box spring. I like the height of this combo. Without the box spring, the mattress sat too low in comparison to the head board. My bed is a queen. I used a king size comforter set.