This has turned out to be really nice!  Make SURE you have your box spring ready to go because there are no slats, only 3 bars at the base so you have to have the box spring to get your mattress on there.  I measured about 15 1/2 inches to cover from the base to top of the unfinished part of the footboard.  So your mattress and box spring should be approximately 15 1/2-16 1/2 inches total. I'm happy with the quality.  Putting it together was entirely from pictures, no instructions beyond that.  It went smoothly for me though once I got going.