Sauder Cottage Road Writing Desk with Soft White Finish - Perfect for Home Office, Study, and Small Spaces

I assembled this by myself. Took me 3 hours. I would recommend having someone help you! It is heavy so lifting it was a bit much for me. But, it is exactly what I wanted! It fits perfectly where I wanted it to go and is a good match for the rest of my decor.It’s such a perfect desk! Great size and color. Other reviews said that this was difficult to put together. I would not say it was difficult but it took us like almost 5 hours, and we are really quick at putting IKEA furniture together. So I would highly recommend it but just make sure you plan a solid day to put it together!It takes a while to assemble, but the finished product was worth the effort! It looks great as a second work space in my office.All around good looking and functional desk. Chose white to fit in with "coastal cottage" decor. Desk feels solid. The only thing I miss is having a "pencil draw" for convenient storage of pens, scissors, tape, etc . . but maybe "the kids" don't need or use most of what I like to keep handy. So, for now, I've got a temporary place to store such items on the desktop. The desktop, by the way, has an attractive faux rough sawn / chalk painted appearance. Worth the money. A bit of a labor of love to assemble but that's just the price we pay for the convenience of flat-packed furniture. Lay out the pieces on a rug or blanket. Set up the connecting pieces in small containers, play your favorite tunes and the assembly will hum along . . in several hours. You might need an extra hand once or twice, so . . . plan for that possibility.I put this desk together on my own in about 2-3 hours. Had to back track a couple times because I attached a piece the wrong way ?. It’s sturdy and looks great!Shipping: fast and arrived in excellent condition.quality: not a spur of the moment purchase, i have been shopping for several months. it is all the mixed reviews that fueled my hesitation to buy. finally just went for it and glad i did. no, this is not "fine" furniture, but it it is not priced as such. once put together, the desk is sturdy, looks great, and is a great value.assembly: again, mixed reviews on here. my experience was good. 2 hours to put together with manual screwdriver, no power tools as the instructions state. the instructions are very clear and precise. photos accompany the written instructions. anyone could put it together.For anyone looking, Sauder offers additional pieces in the cottage road collection. This contributed to me purchasing this desk. I purchased a matching filing cabinet (in picture) from Target for availability and best price. The set looks great together.I ordered this desk so that my middle schooler would have a place to do homework. It arrived in sturdy, protective packaging. From reading all of the reviews, I knew that detailed assembly was required. I’m not handy at all. But I went in with a patient mindset and was able to complete the project. I’ll be honest - it took me 7 hours to assemble the entire desk. But you have to consider that I did this while lounging around on New Year’s Day.Every little piece had to be assembled. To the manufacturer’s credit, the directions were clear. In addition to reading, I viewed the instructional video provided on the manufacturer’s website.There were no missing pieces or screws. All of the holes lined up where they were supposed to be. At one point, I thought the manufacturer had sent the wrong part. But it turned out that I had put it on backwards. It was easy to fix my mistake without disassembling the entire desk.My tween and I put this together with zero frustration. She did bail on me at end. Towards the end of the project, I did need my husband, who helped me flip the desk upright and place the top on it (which is not how the manufacturer advises you to connect the desktop). This leads me to my next point: You can’t just “eyeball” the pieces and think you’ll know what you’re doing. You definitely need to read the instructions.I’ll mention that I originally saw this desk at a regional furniture store, priced at $100 more. If the store would have been willing to deliver a fully assembled desk, I would have gladly paid the extra $100 and the delivery charge. However, the salesperson would make no concessions, and I found the same desk on Amazon.I saved about $180, but spent 7 hours putting the desk together. Luckily, I purchased this desk around the holidays and I had time. Overall, I’m happy with the purchase and the final result.It's a very nice desk, good design. You can order spare parts (free) in case one of them arrived damaged like mine did. Assembly was fine, but I needed someone to help me hold things in place while I assembled it.It is composite wood with white and distressed wood laminate, it's not real raw and treated wood if that's what you're looking for.I've had this desk for about a year now, with limited use, until I finally decided to get a PC. This is when I decided to modify the desk myself and add a keyboard tray using a 7 dollar rubbermaid piece of ash wood laminated shelf (12x24) that I purchased from home depot. I used a keyboard tray mount kit (16 inches, but I recommend 14 inches). It's very difficult to install when the desk is already built, so I highly recommend adding a keyboard tray when you are assembling the desk.Sauder, if you read this, please add a keyboard tray option to your desks! It made it way better and it still looks good!I am 5'5" and this desk with the modification is perfect for me for gaming and working from home.And functional: I put the file-hanging system in the left drawer, and can now have a filing cabinet built right into the desk! It took about two hours to assemble by myself but you REALLY have to examine the instructions: It's not an intuitive assembly. I'd suggest reading the instructions thoroughly, to get your head around the pieces and hardware, before even beginning. And do it page by page, don't try to skip ahead. I don't care about how much IKEA furniture you've put together... This desk is not like that. Seriously, set aside some time to make this. It will be great in the end but the assembly is definitely a learning experience. I just wish I could order more hardware to add a filing system for the other drawer.