I put this desk together in ~30 minutes by myself. The directions were easy to follow. It looks really nice & the size is just what I need.I ordered this desk for my cat and I, and so far it's working out rather well. She was a big help putting it together, of course. I opened the box and sorted the pieces and counted things according to the instructions. DO READ AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS AND LOOK AT THE DIAGRAMS. I did, and it worked exceptionally well. You need to pay attention to which way those holes are facing so that things go together properly or you'll end up taking things apart. It all went together nicely and looks great in front of the double windows in my office. It suggested two people for assembly, but I found I did fine on my own, well, with the cat's help. My cat gets the right third of the desktop for bird watching and I get the rest of it for blogging and genealogy. We're both very happy with our purchase. The height between the shelves is a scant 13", so don't buy 13" fabric drawers to go in there as I did. They can be forced in there, but it's extremely hard to get them to slide back out. It's also not for a very wide chair. My chair only goes so far before the arms stop it from going any further, but it's close enough for me to work. So it's not a problem for me. I will get a measuring tape and take measurements in the next couple of days and come back and enter all those for anyone who wants them. I know how important they are when you're trying to plan your space. If I don't get them in place before you need, them, ask about them. I promise to get them for you.The finish is obviously a paper finish on compressed particle board. This is not fine furnishings and won't stand up to hard use, such as children. But for myself and my cat it is fine. It is a very attractive piece. Taller than your average desk by about 2", I found if I just adjusted my chair I was fine. Do ask if there's anything about this I've forgotten to mention.I have bought 2 of these desks 6 years apart and you cannot tell which one is new and which one is old!It is extremely sturdy and yet surprisingly lightweight. And if you ever had a set of legos, the quality and ingenuity of the parts allow you to do much more than simply create the Double Pedestal Look. As you can tell in the pictures, out of one desk you can create 4 tables.I have taken the long top and placed it on my homemade moveable cabinets using the dowels as natural stoppers and now have the perfect sewing table.I have taken the square shelves and combined them with custom-made luggage racks and created some amazing side tables.You can also use the legs to create an X-shaped and create your own luggage rack look pedestal.As far as regular assembly, the instructions are very easy to follow with huge diagrams. Just remember when you attach the legs to the middle shelf to have all the large end holes on the same side and facing inward. (see assembly picture.) It took me 30 minutes total.I also liked that the hardware came in a bright pink bag with string on it to help it stand out. And each set of items are then individually packed so you don't have to go foraging through a bag of screws and dowels.The only additional tools you need are a hammer and a handheld screwdriver. Don't use an electric one since the additional torque could break things.The good: The box arrived badly beat up with several large holes and tears exposing some of the packing material, but it was packed well enough that the desk was completely unscathed. The black finish looks great, and it's actually thicker/tougher than the finish on some of my other similarly constructed furniture (which has held up fine for the last several years). The fact that it's not solid wood is a huge plus if you're assembling it alone, or if you need to move it to another room or another home. That said, it's VERY sturdy despite its relatively light weight, which is really saying a lot because this is even with only 5 of the 8 attached legs actually screwed onto the bottom shelves (see below). It's also incredibly spacious with a 60" x 21 3/4" surface, and the large shelves (17 1/4" x 21 1/4") allow you to keep the surface clutter-free.The so-so: The large size of the desk is a potential drawback, depending on your needs. First of all, at almost 33 inches tall (measured on a hard floor, not carpet), it's taller than typical desks and slightly taller than the 32" indicated in the description. If you're short, this creates the challenge of finding a chair with enough lift. (My feet likely won't touch the ground if/when I find such a chair.) Secondly, the overall large size of the desk can overwhelm a small room. It stuck out like a sore thumb in my bedroom instead of blending in with the rest of my furniture (which is all black as well), and it made the room look small and cramped (it really isn't). I moved it to the dining room instead, where it doesn't have the effect of dwarfing everything around it. It's hard to appreciate just how large it is from the pictures, but its size is definitely worth taking into careful consideration, especially if you're looking for a desk for an enclosed space.The bad, which really overshadows everything else: Faulty construction and unacceptably poor quality control. As another reviewer mentioned, the pre-drilled holes for all the screws do not line up. It was easy to see that some of the holes were very obviously off-center, but due to strict time constraints, I assembled it anyway rather than returning it or waiting on replacement parts. The instructions do have a number to call for this purpose, with a statement that replacement parts will be shipped free of charge. The two bottom shelves (which serve as the base of the desk) could not be secured to all eight legs with screws because a few of the holes in the bottom shelves did not even come CLOSE to overlapping the holes in the legs. I did attempt to rotate the shelves and to try to get all the screws in before tightening them to see if that would help, but the holes were just way too far off. I would have had to drill entirely new ones. Also, some of the pre-made holes for the cam bolts were made at a crooked angle instead of straight down into the wood. The end result of all of that is a noticeable and unsightly mix of significant gaps in some places and uneven overhangs in other places. I followed the directions/diagrams meticulously, and I've assembled lots of furniture over the years with no problems (most of it more complex than this desk), so this isn't human error on my end. Were it not for the fact that the pre-drilled holes were made by someone who was apparently drunk, blind-folded, and suffering from vertigo, assembling this desk would have been very easy and very quick with a great-looking result. Given the overall defective construction and the resulting imperfections in the finished product, the upsides to this desk aren't enough to warrant more than a 2-star rating.I liked that this item was not missing peices to put it together, but the wait to get it was extremely long and the wood feels very cheap, when I got the item open, the bottom of one of the peices had been smashed in from shipment. Not happy. However, the desk looks good when it’s set up, though it has me worried how much weight it can hold with such a light cheap wood holding it together.