Ordered the charcoal, color is exactly as pictured. High quality workmanship. I asked about fire retardants and formaldehyde and it is free of these and meets California standards. Yes, the box was mangled and we had no instructions but no damage to headboard and you kind of have to be creative in attaching it to metal bed frame. I don’t think instructions would have helped much. They do provide all kinds of hardware. We ended up having to drill extra holes to line up with our frame but all went well.  Took us a good five hours to get it set up. It is so attractive and really updated our bedroom!  Love it!