The coffee table bench arrived on time and with minor tears in the cardboard which luckily was not on the side where the cushion was. The box is as large as the cushion which is fairly light, and you could feel the weight of the base, however, the box was not difficult to move. Everything packaged well inside, the cushion in its own plastic with some softer packing, and the base in one long box, all well packaged with thin sheet foam to protect the beautiful brass/gold color finish.
So, according to the instructions for parts, and identified and found everything, after laying everything out, however, and following instructions to assemble, I found a big flaw in the instructions. There was no mention of the requirement to ‘slip’ each piece's ends into one another before attaching bolts. I was certain the size of the fastening bolts and the large size of the hole it was screwing into, hence there was no grip, must’ve been a manufacturer defect, hence the sale! I called Wayfair and they were going to process a return and replacement, which is when, in my waiting and fidgeting, instructions and photos were no help, but I discovered how the pieces fit together and the bolts worked. I canceled the return/replacement, and was glad that I didn’t sit idle waiting for the customer rep, but continued to fidget, because it didn’t make sense that the entire bench base was cut wrong. I love the piece, it’s beautiful. And, to my surprise, expecting the height of 12” per the online specs, this sits at 15”, and is perfect. I did put a cover on it as I like to read and put my feet up, and always have 3-4 dogs around me, and like to keep it as beautiful as it is. Note: if only there were an instructional video it would have helped to know right away about the simple connection of the bars. There are 30 bolts, and all were there, and as is always best, don’t tighten all to the end. Also, because of the way the bottom parts slip into eachother, I was able to assemble it and see how it all fit standing, and it also helped to support putting the two crossbars to the horizontal long sides. Love this price!
