I'm a stickler when it comes to furniture being mailed in the mail. I'm leery about how it'll show up after being tossed around in freight to get to me in CA. Even though the boxes were somewhat banged up, there were no imperfections on the bed frame themselves, as they were securely and properly wrapped in a protective covering preventing any cuts, scrapes, etc. that we might find on our furniture. The product looked exactly as I had hoped. Not too dark, not too light, but just the right color gray to compliment the industrial chic look of the loft.