We bought this bunk bed set for my pre-teen because we liked the idea of a bunk bed with the futon on bottom that she could use as a lounging area. The set arrived in 2 boxes and contained a LOT of pieces which were clearly labeled with letter stickers. The instructions were slightly confusing because you have to really look at the illustrations carefully to make sure you are assembling the bed correctly. We only ran into one glitch when one of the screw holes for the ladder wasn't drilled properly..my husband had to get his drill and correct it. Other than that, assembly was straight-forward and took the 2 of us approximately 2 1/2 hours. The bed seems pretty sturdy..it does move a little when my daughter climbs up to the top. It looks good in her room and the futon folds and un-folds well. Her only complaint is that the ladder rungs, because they are metal rods, hurt her feet when she climbs on them. We bought a 9" memory foam mattress from Overstock for the bunk bed and that fit great. We also bought a futon mattress from Overstock for this set and it fits perfectly. Overall, we are very happy with this set. It looks nice and was a good value for the price.