I was alarmed at how much the trunk was exposed when it was first assembled and even after fluffing the branches. However, once it had lights and ornaments it looked great! And the space between branches made it easy to situate lights on the inside of the tree. People commented on how realistic it looked. One negative is the stand is quite flimsy and you'll want to be careful with it when moving the tree or it can fall over. The small metal feet get buried into the carpet and the base closes so easily that you have to be sure it remains totally open for stability. Next year, I will put a piece of plywood or something underneath and shift the plywood rather than the tree.