Powell Woodbury Mahogany Bed Step with Storage, Information, Lightly Distressed Woodbury Mahogany, 20 x 17.75 x 17.25

These steps are very sturdy. Don't understand why some reviews say it is not. They arrived nicely packaged, there were no defects. All the pieces needed for assembly were included. Most importantly is that I had seen these exact steps in a magazine for a lot more money. I would say it is a good value for what I paid.My only problem was with the assembly. I am a female in my 70's and not too familiar with putting anything together. I figured I could always ask for help if I couldn't do it. Well I did accomplish putting it together, but it was a bit complicated for me as I would have done better had I had a video to watch. I did make a mistake with one piece as I put it on inside out but I will live with it as I have no desire to take it apart and redo it. lol! All that being said it is a very attractive and very sturdy piece of furniture.

The wood is sturdy but the joint connector nuts are too weak and break. You need to go to Lowes or Home Depot on buy new, stronger nuts. You'll need about 10 of them for about $10. Also, the wooden dowels are too lose in the mounting holes. When I first put this step together it fell apart in my hands when I tried to pick it up (it is heavy.) The connector bolts broke when I first put them in. So to fix this item, I bought new joint connector nuts and used wood glue to glue in the wooden dowels. It is easier to first see how everything goes together - actually you can put all the pieces together and glue the wooden dowels in on one side leaving one end piece unassembled. Then let the wood glue dry overnight. The next day add glue to the holes for the wood dowels to end piece and attach it to the step and tighten all of the joint connectors. Then leave it set for another 24 hours to let the glue dry. This is a nice looking piece of furniture but a complete mess to try to assemble and the assembly parts are substandard junk.

The assembly is easy. Be careful not to damage the twist lock fasteners. No extras are included in the bag. I called the customer support number and never heard back from them. I went to a hardware store to replace my damaged twist locks. Caution for the twist locks are fragile. The steps work well and look good at bedside.

I read several reviews before purchasing that mentioned cheap hardware and hoped it was just a rare occurrence. On receipt, first, second, third and fourth cam screws disintegrated as I turned them. Those that did not break did not hold, permitting assembled pieces to shift. Ran to hardware store and replaced all 8 cam screws. With decent hardware, it came right together and looks beautiful. Quality sturdy piece that will easily hold 250 pounds, if you use decent hardware. Another star lost for minor cosmetic damage to one of the sides, another common problem.

I definitely have a mixed opinion of this product. On the one hand the overall look of the piece is very nice and it seems sturdy enough, although only time will tell if it holds up over the years.As others have noted, this is a kit with many pieces and assembly is far from trivial. The shapes are awkward and one has to experiment and make repeated tries to figure out how to position and hold the pieces during assembly. The instructions say all that you need is a phillips screwdriver, but that is misleading. For one thing, you had better have an unusually short phillips screwdriver because in some cases you have to tighten a fastener from the inside of the steps in confined spaces. I also needed a rubber mallet to help coax some of the parts together. The fastener system could have been designed much better. I've assembled kit furniture before and most use hardware that can be fastened securely with an L-shaped hex-head wrench which is included free in the parts bag. I think the finished item is sturdy enough to be safe to use, but it could have been made stronger with better design. The instructions are the wordless exploded-view diagram type, but the diagrams were clear enough I didn't have any trouble figuring out how the parts were supposed to go together.By the way, the parts bag has zero spares, so if you lose or break something, you are in trouble. As other reviewers have noted, the hardware does not appear to be made of good hardened steel. The metal screws have to be screwed in fully for the parts to go together, but I had a screw head snap off when tightening it. And no, I'm not someone with gorilla strength, just an ordinary guy. In my case the screw was fully inserted when the head broke off, so I was lucky.One of the trickier parts is holding the top step while securing it with four tiny screws that secure it to the hinges. I'm not sure the holes were perfectly aligned and in any try as I may I could not get all four screws to go in completely flush. As a result the hinge binds just a little and the top step doesn't like completely flat.My bottom line is that if I had to buy another bed stool, I would look elsewhere. This product wasn't all that cheap, especially when you factor in the time and frustration spent assembling it. Not a good value in my opinion.