I love the color of this item. It looks as shown: a nice dark real. The legs are sturdy once in place and they're hardwood with a beautiful natural finish. It's being used as a bench in a spot that will soon house a wood stove and then will be moved to our entryway, but we surprisingly sit on it a lot. My daughter likes to have story time on it (it's firm but comfortable.) The only reason for 4 stars is because assembly ran into some snags. I had to drill further into two of the holes for the screws to fit.