The whole is greater than the sum of its parts would be appropriate here. The packaging is a pain to deal with because there will be a million small white polystyrene foam pieces all over the house when you take the parts out of the box. The quality wasn't the best either - the first time it came there were some broken parts, but Wayfair was good about replacing them. Overall assembly is not difficult and the final product looks great! So while there were some pain points, its definitely worth the price.