after unpacking all the contents--various pieces of wood and multiple pieces of hardware--carrying them up two flights of stairs, and laying everything out I decided that DIY is definitely not for me.  Since I'm in the process of having my entire house renovated, I paid one of the workers $100 to assemble it.  As a bookcase it falls short---several of the shelves are either too shallow or too lacking in depth to contain books.  So right now it's pushed up against a wall awaiting a reasonable purpose. I'm hoping one of my kids will have a use for it.