I love the wood and the finish, and it looks great in my bedroom. The appearance is just what I expected from the photos. It was also fairly easy to assemble, though I was a bit disconcerted when the box arrived and I started the project only to realize that many essential parts were missing. Thankfully the next 2 boxes arrived about 2 hours later. Working by myself, it took about an hour to assemble. The wood & finish are nice and the drawers come preassembled, so that saved some time. However, in my book, it does not rate 5 stars because the drawers and guides are cheap and inferior quality for a $550+ bed. The drawers do not have metal slides and the sides of the drawer are thin particle board. When I got one drawer stuck and gave it a little tug it actually separated the drawer face from the sides. Fixable, but an unnecessary pain nonetheless. Other than that I would certainly recommend the bed.