This bed is beautiful in person. We ordered the gray, and it turns out to be a gorgeous, soft fabric that looks just a little bit lighter in person than in the photos. It is a true gray and neutral enough to go with any decor. The shape of the bed and the angled legs make it very cheerful looking but still elegant. The branding on the box says Furniture of America.
Based on where the slats sit near the top of the side rails, a 9-inch mattress will be pretty much even with the top of the footboard. The back of the headboard is not upholstered in the same fabric (it is a black liner fabric), so it does need to be up against a wall of some kind.
The bed is sturdy and doesn't have any sharp corners or edges, which makes it perfect for a kid's room. I tend to walk into things, so that is a bonus for me as well. The overall construction feels solid. I like that the slats are curved to give it a little more bounce.
Putting it together was slightly more difficult than most similar furniture. The footboard doesn't have pre-drilled holes for the legs, even though the headboard does, so be prepared to drill your own pilot holes. (It definitely needs to be predrilled - we used a white crayon to mark the hole placement and a 3/32 drill bit).
The slats slide into black plastic pieces that snap into the side rails. The instructions say to 1) attach the plastic pieces to the side rails and then 2) slide in the slats. We found that was nearly impossible to do in two separate steps. Instead, we slipped the plastic pieces onto the slats and then popped them into place. The slats give the plastic more structure, so that it doesn't bend when popping into place.
Make very sure that the plastic pieces are lined up with the holes in the side rails before trying to pop them in, otherwise the plastic prongs might distort and bend beyond recovery. Our bed came with 2 extra plastic pieces, so luckily we only made that mistake once and were able to use one of the extras as a replacement.
Despite being a little more difficult than average to put together, the bed more than makes up for it with good solid construction. My husband and I were able to build it together in under an hour, which included the learning curve for the slats. It's definitely easier to build with two people, but I think it could be done by one person. It is a great value for the price and looks much more expensive than it actually was. Love it!