First off, this thing is easy to assemble. I’m a 47 year old woman and it took me 3 hours and 4 beers to put it together by myself. All you need is a screwdriver and optional beer and music. All the parts are clearly labeled and the instructions are very easy to follow. Just make sure you’re paying attention to the orientation of the pieces.... don’t just go sticking dowels in all willy nilly. I laid all the pieces out in numerical order first and that made things real easy too. All the parts were there and everything lined up perfectly, including the doors. The metal locking pieces (don’t know what they’re actually called) were frustrating at first, but only because I never used them before, and once I got the hang of it, everything was good. The backboard piece is flimsy, but it doesn’t effect the functionality, sturdiness, nor appearance. The backboard has holes, but the wooden piece you attach it to does not, so a tiny bit of elbow grease is required.... no big deal. As mentioned by others, it can scratch easily, so assemble it on a rug or something and as long as you’re not tossing the parts around, you should be good. I bought this to store CDs and cassettes in and it holds quite a lot (6 CD wallets and about 30 cassettes per drawer). From the pictures, you can see my ugly collection, but it’s about 30 years old, and is why I required a place to stash/hide them. Personally, I think this little cabinet looks more expensive than it is and is sturdy enough for my purpose. Please manage your expectations though... if you want a fine piece of hand-carved Tibetan mahogany that others can ooh and ahh over, then go elsewhere and pay thousands of dollars. If you’re looking for a little extra storage from a piece that looks decently classy, then this is a good option. Overall, I’m really happy with this purchase
Good bargain on a nice piece
First off, this thing is easy to assemble. I’m a 47 year old woman and it took me 3 hours and 4 beers to put it together by myself. All you need is a screwdriver and optional beer and music. All the parts are clearly labeled and the instructions are very easy to follow. Just make sure you’re paying attention to the orientation of the pieces.... don’t just go sticking dowels in all willy nilly. I laid all the pieces out in numerical order first and that made things real easy too. All the parts were there and everything lined up perfectly, including the doors. The metal locking pieces (don’t know what they’re actually called) were frustrating at first, but only because I never used them before, and once I got the hang of it, everything was good. The backboard piece is flimsy, but it doesn’t effect the functionality, sturdiness, nor appearance. The backboard has holes, but the wooden piece you attach it to does not, so a tiny bit of elbow grease is required.... no big deal. As mentioned by others, it can scratch easily, so assemble it on a rug or something and as long as you’re not tossing the parts around, you should be good. I bought this to store CDs and cassettes in and it holds quite a lot (6 CD wallets and about 30 cassettes per drawer). From the pictures, you can see my ugly collection, but it’s about 30 years old, and is why I required a place to stash/hide them. Personally, I think this little cabinet looks more expensive than it is and is sturdy enough for my purpose. Please manage your expectations though... if you want a fine piece of hand-carved Tibetan mahogany that others can ooh and ahh over, then go elsewhere and pay thousands of dollars. If you’re looking for a little extra storage from a piece that looks decently classy, then this is a good option. Overall, I’m really happy with this purchase