Assembling this bed is not for the faint of heart, but at the end of your labor you will have a beautiful bed.  As another reviewer said, it sits low just using a mattress. If you use a box spring and a matttress,  the mattress covers most of the pretty headboard.  There is a support leg in the middle of the outside frames  which are flush with the frame.  I need to remember it is there before I bang my toes on it when making the bed.