Didn’t come with any instructions but only slowed process by about 5-10 minutes to mentally sort all pieces out. The stain is thick and is kind of ugly…it makes a real wood piece look and feel slightly fake. It’s not heightening the product at all in my opinion….however, it is perfect in both size and shape. It feels pretty good to sit at on bar stools and it’s really not going to get a lot of heavy usage in general so I feel at this price point it was a good buy