Set arrives smelling strongly of asphalt, resin and gasoline. Thankfully lemon pledge helped to dissipate the smell and it all but dissapeared after 3 days. As others have suggested you need to loosely connect the bottom bolts to allow wiggle room to align the top bolts then you can tighten everything. Overall the set was easy to put together. I completed it alone in about 15 minutes.  The top color is brown with a pretty gray sheen. Legs are round and they meet with a square base.