Appearance: Beautiful deep cherry color - matches my other mission pieces perfectly. One piece was slightly scratched upon arrival, but nothing a little furniture polish didn't fix. One drawback: The cheap looking, almost orange screw hole fillers. You know, after you attach the shelves with the screws, one side of the rack has a hole where the screw is countersunk? So those wood fillers to cover the holes make the piece look - shall we say - not as classy as it could be. Plus, they didn't include glue with the supplies so those little suckers keep popping out. Put some glue in there if you want them to stay.
Assembly: It is nearly impossible to put this together solo. I highly recommend a second pair of hands in order to hold and line up the shelves as you tightens the screws. I did it solo but had a devil of a time trying to hold the shelf level and screw in the screws at the same time. It will be faster and easier with a second person, trust me!!
NOTE: the shelves won't fit a book taller than about 8 or so inches standing up. So anything 8.5x11 won't fit...