I really like the design of the chair. The main problem is that the wood is not smoothed out. The edging is splintering off. Its not large splinters but its almost like a wicker chair. We're actually going to see if we can smooth the edges with sand paper/buffer. We might try a little lacquer. Its just an inconvenience to have to do anything to it, though. Its easy to assemble and seems durable. Now that I know about the wood, though, I may have gone a different route and looked at other stools.