This bed is indeed real wood- unfinished and so roughly sawn we had to sand it ourselves to avoid splinters and the bedding catching. The instructions were some of thr most complicated and unclear I have ever used ( I actually enjoy putting together flat pack furniture), it took two of us 5hrs in the end to complete. The fasteners struggled to fit correctly ( we had to use a mattel to it fitted together), there was an excessive amount needed (think more metal in the fame then wood now). The screw heads have changed shape by installation. The order of instructions wasn't very good. It would have been much easier to attached the slat holding battons before the bedframe was put together and upright. We have kept it as so send it back would be just as long as to take it apart! All on all, looked a lot better then it actually is