My wife's been wanting a canopy bed for some time, so when I came across this frame at its low price-point (when compared to comparable 'designer' frames) I went ahead and ordered it on a whim. I usually shy away from large/oversized purchases online, especially if it's going to cost a fortune to ship an item back - but I've had good luck with Great Offer Stock in the past, so I decided it was worth the risk - while keeping my expectations fairly low.
The bed arrived very well packaged in two giant boxes. As other reviewers have mentioned, the instructions are a bit unorthodox - large paragraphs of copy with run-on sentences and obscure part names. However, the illustrations are accurate enough that I was able to assemble the bed without reading the bulk of the text. The only warning I would provide is to not ignore the text about keeping the bolts loose when assembling the base of the bed - this is critical to making everything align properly, and why I think a lot of people have complained about "misaligned holes". I did need to muscle a few parts together along the way, but was able to successfully build the entire bed by myself (no help) within a couple hours - overall, it was a fairly easy assembly.
Once built, the bed is very sturdy - and I was actually quite impressed with the overall build quality for the price. I was expecting the metal to be a thinner aluminum, but it's actually a reasonably thick steel. I have a small-ish bedroom with standard 8ft ceilings and was concerned about the bed taking up too much space. However, the thin rails and minimalist design creates a "focal point" without feeling "crowded" - the vertical posts actually make the ceiling seem higher - even though they're *just* clearing my ceiling fan by 2-3 inches. We also have a an unusually thick mattress/box spring and plenty of the headboard is still visible.
Overall, I'm quite impressed with the frame in general - especially given it's price point.
HOWEVER....
There are a couple negatives that I must point out.
First: The post finials that you see in the photo ARE NOT the finials you'll receive. Instead of the decorative finials in the photo, the bed actually ships with cheap plastic spheres (see the king sized version of this bed for an example). This cheapens the overall look of the bed. I contacted Great Offer Stock about this, and while helpful with investigating the issue, they confirmed that none of the beds they have in stock have the finials that are shown in the image. The image really needs to be updated to reflect the actual product. Great Offer Stock customer support was extremely helpful with resolving the issue, but ultimately were unable to provide the finials depicted in the photo. I'm sure we'll get used to the round finials over time, but we were definitely disappointed.
Second: The finish on the frame leaves a bit to be desired. As others have mentioned, the black "paint" on the rails is streaky in spots - which is fine and hardly noticeable once assembled. However, after owning the bed for less than a week, I'm already noticing the finish beginning to "rub off" in spots. This arises some concerns that the black finish will slowly diminish over time. If you're able to justify this as a correlation of "buying a cheap bed", you should be fine. But disappointing none-the-less.
As long as you're okay with the two "gotchas" listed above, you'll be more than happy with your purchase.