Great value if you are willing to do a little work.
I love this bed for its quality and appearance.
This looks GREAT when it is assembled and dressed. (And its cat approved)
1. This is solid wood. No particle board. It is not single board but finger jointed wood. Some have complained about this but it is actually more stable than a single long board and often stronger; and this is one of the things that brings the price down. It is well finished and unless someone really studies it up close will not readily notice this. The staining is even and the sanding well done. I found no areas that were rough due to lack of sanding.
2. I have experience building furniture (building, not just assembling.) So my experience made this much easier than it would be for a novice. I did it by myself but that was made possible by my experience. It really would be much easier for anyone to do this with a 2nd set of hands. The tricky part is to get all the slats aligned so that the ends can be tightened against them. So at least 2 sets of hands is ideal.
3. It is VERY sturdy. I have a daybed that I paid much more for and the solid wood side rails are much stronger that on that one. In fact the front one on that broke and it hadnt even been abused. I had to repair and reinforce it with solid wood. I think this will withstand a great weight without problems.
4. If you have lifting difficulties or small doors etc. to navigate this is a good plan. I am on my own and have spinal stenosis so lifting and carrying things upstairs is a challenge. There is a lot of wood in this bed and the package is heavier than I could lift and carry up stairs. BUT: The fact that what you get to assemble is literally boards, just like you would have if you were building the bed means that you can open the box and carry as many or as few boards as you like. And boards will fit through any door a person fits through.
5. The one thing that gives this bed away as a consumer assembled rather than a factory built piece is that the fasteners (bolts) are visible in several places on the finished bed. I have never liked the little wooden buttons that come with self assemble furniture so I dont miss those. But you might not like the bolt heads visible. They are countersunk so if you wanted you could fill in the holes with dowel and cut/sand flush and finish to match or fill in with putty or another filler. The holes dont bother me so I have just painted the screw heads to match the stain using acrylic craft paint that costs less than $1.
6. It is high enough to get DEEP storage bins underneath. It is also so high that if you have anything deeper than a standard mattress it will be quite high. Its not like sitting on a sofa.
Great value if you are willing to do a little work.
I love this bed for its quality and appearance. This looks GREAT when it is assembled and dressed. (And its cat approved) 1. This is solid wood. No particle board. It is not single board but finger jointed wood. Some have complained about this but it is actually more stable than a single long board and often stronger; and this is one of the things that brings the price down. It is well finished and unless someone really studies it up close will not readily notice this. The staining is even and the sanding well done. I found no areas that were rough due to lack of sanding. 2. I have experience building furniture (building, not just assembling.) So my experience made this much easier than it would be for a novice. I did it by myself but that was made possible by my experience. It really would be much easier for anyone to do this with a 2nd set of hands. The tricky part is to get all the slats aligned so that the ends can be tightened against them. So at least 2 sets of hands is ideal. 3. It is VERY sturdy. I have a daybed that I paid much more for and the solid wood side rails are much stronger that on that one. In fact the front one on that broke and it hadnt even been abused. I had to repair and reinforce it with solid wood. I think this will withstand a great weight without problems. 4. If you have lifting difficulties or small doors etc. to navigate this is a good plan. I am on my own and have spinal stenosis so lifting and carrying things upstairs is a challenge. There is a lot of wood in this bed and the package is heavier than I could lift and carry up stairs. BUT: The fact that what you get to assemble is literally boards, just like you would have if you were building the bed means that you can open the box and carry as many or as few boards as you like. And boards will fit through any door a person fits through. 5. The one thing that gives this bed away as a consumer assembled rather than a factory built piece is that the fasteners (bolts) are visible in several places on the finished bed. I have never liked the little wooden buttons that come with self assemble furniture so I dont miss those. But you might not like the bolt heads visible. They are countersunk so if you wanted you could fill in the holes with dowel and cut/sand flush and finish to match or fill in with putty or another filler. The holes dont bother me so I have just painted the screw heads to match the stain using acrylic craft paint that costs less than $1. 6. It is high enough to get DEEP storage bins underneath. It is also so high that if you have anything deeper than a standard mattress it will be quite high. Its not like sitting on a sofa.