The stain was redder than I expected and kind of stood out a little too much in the garden. I added some gray semi-solid deck stain to it after assembly to  "age" it a little - looks wonderful. It was a little difficult to get the mortise joints together. We thought they didn't match up at first, but all it needed was a little tap with a rubber mallet (or use a piece of wood and a hammer if you don't have one so as not to damage the bench). It's actually good that it fits so snugly together though.

Pros: Great value
Cons: they could have left it natural instead of staining it