This is a beautiful piece of furniture. As others have noted, it is challenging to assemble without another person, but I did it - and I am a small, older woman. I was actually pleased with the assembly as the instructions were fairly easy to follow and the pieces fit just as they were supposed to. The pieces came all sorted out and labeled, making it fairly simple to follow the pictures. I wouldn't have wanted to do it without my cordless drill/driver, however, as this is real wood and getting the screws in by hand would have been beyond me.I purchased this because I want to draw and paint while standing. A regular easel is more upright than I want for my current work. I had found myself using my kitchen countertop which was not really a good idea, given that I often mix my own paints from pigments that are toxic. I was able to adjust the height of this drafting table to be the exact height of my kitchen counter and tilt it to a slight angle so that it is easier on my neck than bending over a flat surface. Problem solved!So what is the major disappointment? It is very difficult to adjust the height of the table and the angle of the drawing surface. Somehow I had imagined that, once assembled, I could turn a knob or something to make the adjustments. No such luck. If I want to raise the height of the table, I have to be able to lift and hold the table surface at the desired height while tightening the knobs on both sides. This surface is heavy and wide - it cannot be done this way, at least with just one person. If a strong person was holding the tabletop up, the other person could tighten the knobs. But, even then, one has to be sure that the surface is held level or your surface will be slanting from left to right - not the kind of angle an artist wants. A similar problem occurs when trying to lower the surface, unless you want it at the lowest level (in which case you loosen the knobs and let the side pieces fall to the ground). It is possible to adjust the height with the table upside down - but one doesn't really want to have to turn a 40+ lb table upside down to adjust its height. And, even then, there is the dilemma of being sure you have raised or lowered it the same amount on the left as on the right.Fortunately, I found a way to get the table at the height I wanted and I don't anticipate needing to change it (or at least wanting so badly to change it that I would go through all of this again). I'll let you in on my secret in the event that you find yourself trying to do this by yourself like I did. I took 6 reams of printer paper that I had on hand and put 3 on each side of the table. I lifted the tabletop, pushing them under the side pieces with my foot, so that each stack held up one side of the table at exactly the same height. I then tightened the knobs and pulled the stacks of paper out. One could use 1 or 2 reams (or some other sturdy pair of objects of equal height) to achieve different heights.Adjusting the angle of the table has similar dilemmas but I got lucky and was pleased with the first angle I tried. I'm not going to mess with it.Given this significant difficult in adjusting this adjustable table, by all rights I should give it less than 5 stars. It seems that a company that can design such a beautiful table and make it easy for a non-handy person like me to assemble, should have come up with a better system for adjusting height and angle. However, I just can't given it less than 5 stars. I simply love the table too much.