Came well-packaged, with no damage or missing parts whatsoever. The color is true to the image, a nice wood-grain grey. My photo makes it look a bit warmer because it has both natural light from the window and the glow of my electric fireplace in the photo, so you will see some variance depending on your room's lighting, of course.It's not real wood, and anyone with any sort of experience with pressed wood product versus natural wood will be able to tell immediately, but looks and feels significantly more solid than most similar products and doesn't have any peeling/uneven finish/warping as can be common with pressed wood products. It does not give you that "ugh, obviously cheap" feel that so many pressed wood products can, if you know what I mean? There's no shiny/almost plastic-y finish here.It was extremely easy to put together, took me maybe 45 minutes on my own, and will probably be much faster for someone without a working memory disorder like myself! The instructions were clear and concise, all parts were labeled, and everything fit together snugly and easily. It is extremely solid and easy to move, there was no creaking, it's very stable. I think this would be able to survive several moves as long as you weren't extra rough with it or anything; it seems much more solid than my Ikea desk, for example.I am very impressed. I prefer actual wood furniture when possible, but we all know that in this price range that requires a lot of luck, and weathered grey stain real wood furniture seems rare. I will be purchasing more from the Monarch Dark Taupe collection for my bedroom once I narrow it down to which piece I want!EDIT 7/27/2023: Almost six years and two moves later, I'm still impressed. No warping or peeling of the wood, no wobbly connections. It survived some careless movers that managed to permanently mess up my office chair & destroy the back of a cheaper standalone shelving unit, so doubly impressed that this console table didn't take any damage. I have two other pieces of Monarch furniture that show the same resiliency. Assuming their quality level hasn't changed, I would not hesitate to order more furniture from them in the future.