It came contained in one box, and was easy enough to set up (approx 20 minutes).  I really like the height of it and color.  At first my cats didn't take to it, but after putting some catnip on it, they were more then happy about trying it out.  Right now it's not there absolute favorite thing, but it may be in time, it's still pretty new to them.  As far as lasting years to come  Probably not.  the carpeting on it is thin (very thin).  So if it turns out your cats love it, I wouldn't expect it to look great in a years time  On the other hand, what matters is if they like it or not and not so much what it looks like.