The hall tree is made of solid wood (some pieces plywood) and is well designed and extremely sturdy.  The finished product is a great looking quality piece of furniture.  Functionality could be greatly improved if the bench seat were hinged and opened upward versus having forward swinging doors.  Assembly was not difficult but took much longer than most reviews are suggesting.  I had one major issue that one of the doors would not assemble.  I had to remove each of the (female half) hinges which are preassembled to the door and ream them with a drill bit.  After this the fit was fine.  The cream color works perfectly for us.