I knew the space I wanted to fill, and when I found this potting station I knew it would look perfect in there. Before assembling,  I painted everything except the top and then stained that and also stained the painted parts. My wonderful husband created the nice level area and we raised it up just a bit by putting it on pavers. It is exactly what I wanted and so sturdy!  I’m super happy with the outcome. It was worth all the hours of work and prep.