This is a beautiful bed and exacly what I was looking for! With that being said, its a pain up put together. You have to have a 
mechanical mind to put this together, as the directions are unclear and some parts dont fit together appropriately. Some hardware was missing, Im sure we could of contacted the manufacturer and they would of replaced them, but luckily we had spares around the house anyways. The mattress I chose is 12 for reference, if you want your bed to sit lower or higher. Once put together, its pretty sturdy. My daughter was overjoyed with it