Originally I had a bed that went all the way to the floor - similar to this one but the difference was that I couldn't put anything under it. Upgraded to this one and not it's like I have an extra storage closet!! Love it. Already filled it to the brim too but it helped to clear out my actual storage closet to make room for other things. It's also a great place to store all of my bedding (pillows, blankets, sheets, etc).

I was able to put this together in 2 hours and 3 minutes completely alone, but a second person would have definitely made things easier/faster. I've included the instructions (pictures) so you can see what to expect. The most difficult part to do by myself was to add the main frame that holds the bed onto the lifting arms (and get them screwed on). But I managed to do it in a matter of minutes anyway :) Other than that part, it was all pretty easy. Great, easy to follow instructions.

A couple of tips/notes:
- A single person can put this together but it'll definitely make things easier if you have another person there to help.

- On step 5, I added the "N" brackets to the bed frame FIRST and then lifted the frame to add the "Z" legs - this was much easier than doing it the way they say to do it (which is to add the legs to the brackets first and THEN mount the whole thing onto the bed frame). Doing it this way also allowed me to do it on my own (instead of having someone else there just lifting the bed while I screwed the bracket/leg assembly on).

- DON'T LOSE ANY OF THE SCREWS! This kit only comes with the EXACT number of nuts and bolts required, not a single extra nut or bolt is included so be sure you don't lose any. I recommend using a magnetic wrist band (made for holding nuts and bolts) if you have one. Or just keep every nut and bolt in the case until you're ready to use them.

- If you wanted to, you could remove the large base boards (inside of the "container" area) to get a little bit more space. Of course them you might see things under the bed. Just an option if something is too tall to fit in there.

- Use double-sided tape on a few of the wooden slats that the mattress sits on - this will prevent the mattress from sliding when you lift the compartment. The little metal brackets that are supposed to stop the bed from sliding were not working well for my 8" thick memory foam mattress.

- Always wrap your mattress in an anti bed-bug cover! This will basically prevent you from ever getting bed bugs. They work amazingly well.

- You do not need a box spring on this bed. It has slats that are meant to replace the box spring so just place your mattress directly on top.

- Bed size is 79.5"L x 56.5"W x 42.5"H. Measure out a space for it before you order :)

Other things worth noting:
- The lift is VERY strong. It has no problem at all lifting this somewhat heavy/dense, full-size memory foam mattress. In fact, it's more difficult to pull the bed DOWN than it is to lift UP :D That means I can add all of my bedding and it still has no trouble lifting up. Of course when you put it down, it kind of locks into place (not really but it passes the point of resistance/lifting power) - so there's no chance of it just lifting on its own.
- I paid $325 for this bed, which I thought was an ok deal - but then the price went way up. I don't think I would have bought it if it were more than $325. I thought even $325 was a little high..

Hope this is helpful to someone else out there! :)

---

This bed is great!! I gotta say that assembly is not hard to do but there is a lot of bolts and nuts.. i am pretty saavy assembling furniture but this bed took me about 3hrs to complete. Be aware of the gas struts as they go one way only in the assembly and make sure they are on the right position before screwing the 'lock nuts' which they are hard to remove once they are in. There was a review here about been to hard to fold the bed once you have open the storage comparment and that person is correct, the pressure on the gas struts seems to make it hard to fold, i am not saying is a bad thing to me is OK but it may be hard for some to apply a bit of extra muscle every time you push down the bed back in place. Mounting the mattress holder to the gas strut assembly was hard, you need an 2 person to asemble that part. I try by myself and i place a bolt to keep it in place but the weight bent the bolt and broke it and BTW there is NO spare parts.

Pros:
Okay the price was right for this bed.
Storage is spacious and works as described.
The texture of the bed was good.
It looks solid and good quality with minor details.
It looks nice after assembly and the edges are soft.

Cons:
The gas strut bolt mount TURNS while fastening and removing nut (There is NO counter hold.)
There is NO spare parts.

Important Note To Seller: The gas struts bolts' mounts turn at the same time you are fastening the nut into the bolt and the bolt mount does not have a counter hold to grip while fastening therefore making it extremely hard to fasten and remove the nuts. It extendend my assembly time 45min since i first mount the gas struts the wrong position and the nuts were not coming off as i hace to use pliers to hold the mount to counter my wrench to remove the nut.

---

It took my daughter and I about 4 hours to put this together but we love it. Looks and feels very high quality. We have a 14 inch mattress on it so you don't see much of the headboard once the pillows are on the bed. I was worried that the lift mechanism might not work or not work well but once it was all put together it is perfect. My daughter is extremely happy with her beautiful new bed and I'm thrilled that we have that storage space but I do with it was a few inches deeper.

---

Love this storage bed & all the storage space. Wish I had purchased this years ago as my house is so small with little storage space.