So to start, the packaging was ok, nothing special or no extra foam to surround the sofa. Thank goodness that I was at home during delivery because otherwise they would have left the package at the bottom of the stairs. 
Now, the sofa is an awesome blue color that I expected from the pictures. Like many others have said, the cushions are very firm, but not super uncomfortable. It takes some additional get used to them and I am not sure if I can sit on it for a long period of time. That we will have to see. 
The stool is oddly thought of as the cushion for it is either attached to the sofa itself (via the double length cushion) or one of the single cushions and then the double cushion turns onto the sofa. The only problem I see is that the cushions are to small and leaves a big gap when the duo leaves cushion is used in the sofa. 
Over still 5 stars for now. I will update if I need to after using it for a little while. 
Thanks for reading.