Gracewood Hollow Aristo 6-drawer Chest
My girlfriend and I saw this set of furniture on Great Offer Stock at separate times, independent of each other. When I sent her the link to ask her opinion she had already seen it and was already thinking of buying. I took the plunge first ordering the 6-drawer chest, 5 drawer lingerie and a nightstand (limited room for two night stands). The reviews were all very good so I was pretty confident that I would like it when it arrived. i was not disappointed. The items came in a total of 5 boxes, about a week after I ordered them. I knew I did good when I saw how heavy the boxes were. I opened the first box (the nightstand) and was impressed with what I saw. The pieces were very well packed to minimize movement, and individually wrapped in soft foam to protect the finishes. The finish and feel was fantastic, having a nice dark, warm tone to it. My girlfriend and I put it together, and the first thing I wanna say is powertools ;-). With all the screws using a drill or power screwdriver will make things go much faster, unless of course you want your wrist/arm to get a work out. The instructions were pretty clear , and once we had all the parts laid out it was simple to follow. Didn't run into any problems with screw holes not matching, as everything fit together well. As someone who has put together my fair share of furniture I was pretty impressed with that. It did take us close to three hours to put together, but thats cause we were taking our time (and did make one mistake). Once we had it put together we were both impressed with the finished product. Very stable and solid feeling, with good weight behind it. We were both very happy with the look, and were looking forward to assembling the other two pieces. Those two went faster (about 2 hours each) since we already had some practice in with the nightstand. Same good quality as the first piece, and they look great. In these larger pieces we noticed some areas where edges didn't quite line up or fit exactly, but very minor and hard to notice unless you know its there. One of the drawer fronts had a small scratch, but Great Offer Stock is already working on sending the replacement, so it all good.
So, to conclude, we both like the set very much, to the point that she has ordered 4 pieces for her place and I ordered another night stand and 4 drawer chest. It's great quality and you can't go wrong with the price. Don't be put off with the assembly - once you put together one piece you'll the other pieces will go much faster, as the layout and technique is the same for all.
A couple of items to note for assembly:
1) use power tools if available,
2) layout and organize the pieces (there will be lots of them),
3) checkout the position and layout of the drawer rails (that was our first mistake)
4) easy with the screws, as the heads do strip, especially if using a power tool.