My 9 year old son absolutely loves his big kid bed. I was able to build the bed by myself without too much trouble. It is sturdy, but I still tethered it to a stud in the wall for extra safety. To create a more polished look for the underside of the bed, I had some very thin plywood cut to size. I then wrapped it in a while sheet and secured it with a nail gun. I put this under the mattress, and now theres a clean white underside to the bed. One word of advice the bed description says that you can fit up to an 8 high mattress. I initially put my sons existing 8 mattress on the bed, and I was not comfortable with how high the mattress was and how little the railings extended above it. I bought a 5 mattress instead, and its much better. Overall, this bed is great and I highly recommend it.