Linon 50" Walnut Storage Bench with Split Seat - Stylish Home Decor Entryway Bench for Hallway, Bedroom & Living Room Organization

VALUE: First, this bench seat is an extraordinary value. I shopped this at a number of sites and the prices ranged from a high of $210 (plus shipping) down to Amazon’s best current price of $97 and free shipping if you’re Prime, as are we. You will wonder how the manufacturer can produce such a piece at this incredibly low price. While not heirloom quality, this bench seat is really nice. By the way, it is manufactured in Vietnam.SHIPPING: Many people complain that furniture arrives damaged, whether in kit form (like this piece) or fully assembled. I’ve purchased furniture for many years now, and I have rarely had the item delivered in perfect condition; there was always some touchup or repair to be done. This item was well packed with lots of styrofoam panels separating the individual pieces, and each part wrapped in plastic foam wrap, well protected. To my surprise, there was no shipping damage whatsoever, even though the exterior of the shipping box was pretty beat up.ASSEMBLY PROCEDURE: Instructions are very clear, mostly pictures with almost no text. Any average DIYer can easily assemble this. An Allen wrench is provided for most of the fasteners, so the only other tool you really need is a #2 Phillips head screwdriver. Where holes are drilled for dowels or screws, you may want to remove raised wood shards with a chisel or small piece of sandpaper before you begin assembly. The fasters are very high quality, the holes line up well, and there are only two tricky processes to watch out for. First, on page five of the instructions, you will be assembling the frame of the seat which resembles a child’s crib. Most important here is that the four sides need to be perfectly square relative to each other. Use a carpenter’s square, but if you don’t have one you can use an 8 ½ x 11 inch pad. Position the carpenters square (or pad) on top of the sides to make sure the sides are at 90 degrees (square) to each other; the frame should form a true rectangle and not a parallelogram. Also make sure you are assembling the frame on a very flat surface; I used our very heavy dining room table with shipping-box cardboard protecting the table surface (my wife had a fit). Gradually tighten the screws fully, monitoring the “square-ness” as you proceed. Second, the hinged seats have a very nice feature. Each of the two seats has its own “lift lid support” mechanism which holds the seat in the open position so you can access the storage compartment. On my unit, the positions for the screws marked on the underside of each seat panel didn’t match up; in other words, the seat panels were held open at very different positions. So I experimented a bit and relocated the screw positions so that the seat opens adequately and at the same angle for both panels. One more note: there are four wood plugs that you will install as the very last step. These cover four holes where screws fasten the curved back panel to the sides. Gently drive these in with a hammer using a scrap of wood to protect the plugs from damage. Don’t use too much force; you want to avoid splitting the very thin wood surrounding the plugs.QUALTIY: Most of the components are real wood, and very nicely finished in a rich color that resembles a combination of mahogany and walnut, somewhat reddish. One reviewer complained that the storage compartment bottom was “cardboard”, but this is not accurate. It is about 3/16th inch thick pressed board resembling Masonite with a very nice matching wood finish veneer. It will not support a lot of weight (30 pound limit), so don’t store your spare engine parts or National Geographic magazine collection in here; but for blankets, pillows, backpacks, slippers, jackets, hats, gloves etc, it is perfect. You will be amazed at how nice it looks, and it feels surprisingly solid. We plan to add a cushion as the final touch.