My husband put this together very quickly with no issues. It's definitely not as dark as it looks in the picture. It's much lighter than expected but as I saw in other reviews, I would not consider it yellow. At first inspection of the pieces, they all looked incredibly scratched. But we realized this was to make it look like real wood, which it's not. Overall, I am happy with it. I like it's unique style. It fits our large wall very nicely. I can't wait to add some photos and other decor to it.