Solid, tall, and with none of that ugly carpeting on it +++. The only thing I was a *tad* disappointed about is that the base is not made of solid wood but plywood, and it looks like cheap plywood. But that's the snob in me talking. My cat doesn't care. He's slowly warming up to the post, right now with a pattern of a few scratches followed by a jump onto the top of the post to streetwatch. So far the post hasn't stopped him from destroying my wicker hamper, but hopefully at some point sisal will win. Overall, a good buy.