I love this coffee table - it did take me around 2-3 hours to put together, somewhat leisurely. I bought it to be able to do work on the laptop from the couch. While it is a particle board, covered in some kind of laminate, it is very sturdy and seems like it will last a long time. I did scratch the inside of the lift-top area while moving around the metal brackets, so just take some care when placing those; however, the scratch is not really visible due to the location. The pieces are all marked with either a sticker (which comes off super easy!) or a pen/marker, so no guessing which pieces they are asking you to put together. It's a nice height and size and I love the look and color!! This was definitely a good purchase for me.