Martin Svensson Home Santa Fe Solid Wood TV Stand, 65", Antique Black and Aged Distressed Pine

I did a lot of shopping for a TV console. I saw this particular one on a website of a local furniture retailer and really liked it. I didn't like their price. Then, as I was shopping Amazon and thought, "I wonder what they have..." I found loads of TV consoles and this one! It was $180 less on Amazon than the local furniture retailer that was passing it off as furniture-store quality furniture!!! I read the reviews which are mostly good, and then I ordered in hopes it come undamaged. What a mess it would be to deal with an item this size if it were damaged.Everything couldn't have worked out better. It was scheduled for delivery on Monday when I wouldn't have been home. I really wanted it before Monday and could see it arrived in my town on Friday. I called to see if I could pick it up on Saturday (vs wait until Monday), but they said it wasn't "sorted" yet. The next morning, I saw it online that it had been loaded on the truck for Saturday delivery. Yay!!!As soon as I saw the UPS truck, I went out to meet him. As he was pulling this enormous box off the truck - I realized there was NO way I could have gone to pick this up, and when I got home - I definitely would have needed help. The UPS driver even said, "I was hoping you were home; I wasn't sure what I was going to do with this thing!" I've had the same UPS guy for 19 years, and he helped me carry it into my house and put it in my living room. The box is ENORMOUS and 100+ lbs. There is no manhandling this box by yourself. Don't even try it.I laid the box down on the floor and cut the taped-on lid off. The product is packed perfectly/neatly inside and surrounded by foam padding and foam wrap. It's quite well secured in the box and there was ZERO damage even though a few minor punctures in the cardboard here and there.I unpacked everything. All the pieces are labeled with letter/numbers, and the instruction book sits on top. The hardware and the two little legs are identifiable with RED tape - so even if you're being hasty in throwing out the packaging, you'll see it. Nice touch! The front and back pieces are FULLY assembled. You aren't going to be screwing on any doors or sliders - it's wonderful. This is also why the box is so enormous!!! Make sure you have a BIG space to lay this box down to get the parts out. You can't open the end and slide pieces out - you have to lay it flat and lift the top off.Note - the back of this unit is actually wood. It is not junky cardboard! Very nice!!!!The directions are quite clear, and you'll only need a phillips head screwdriver to reverse the hardware on the slider doors - which are shipped inverted for protection. Easy. The rest of everything else goes together with slots and tabs, dowels and finger-locking type locks. I wouldn't recommend it - but you could take this apart again if you really had to.The instructions say two people are required. I am only one. I leaned the front piece against the couch to keep it upright as a fitted the pieces together. There is one tricky spot where you're fitting together tabs that slide up, and tabs that slide down on opposite sides... maybe this would be easier with two people? But I managed just fine. Only one area required a rubber mallet to fit the tab/slot together and slide them down - the rest went together with pressure only. I do not recommend tapping with a regular hammer unless you use a scrap piece of wood (not cardboard). And tap - don't hammer... you could split the piece.Assembly was a breeze and didn't take long. The shelf hardware was VERY dirty (perhaps oil?) and turned my fingers black. With the unit being white - I got up to wash my hands after handling the first four so I didn't get prints all over everything. I don't know if it is oil or what - but it's disgusting and unexpected. Too bad they didn't wash the parts before shipping. I used a damp paper towel to handle the rest as I inserted them for the shelves. See the directions about which way to insert the little metal brackets. I reversed them the first time - I was thinking too hard.I didn't screw the shelves to the brackets in the two end cabinets. They aren't going anywhere with the lip coming out for the door. The center cabinet doesn't have a lip around the door - so the shelves could slide out. I did what a previous reviewer did and just screwed the front brackets to the shelf. No need to do all four.The top went on last - and perhaps it would have been easier to have a 2nd person to put weight on the top so that it would fit snugly down while you close the "locks" which turn the pegs inside the top. But again, I managed on my own.Now for asthetics: The finish on the unit has a rough sawn wood texture to it (minus any sharp edges). It's really beautiful. It looks rustic yet refined. It is definitely ivory or cream - not white or off-white. My TV is 50", I think, so I wanted a larger unit for some art that I have. Right now - it's Christmas - so my reindeer are there. I wasn't sure I'd like having my TV up that high, but I don't mind it a bit. My ZVox soundbar didn't fit inside the unit, so I had to place the TV on top of it. It's still okay height-wise.The cabinet is nice and deep - so I was able to get my wifi HP laser printer inside the center section. I love being able to hide that! The openings in the back of the unit are plenty big, so there's no struggling to fish wires through a small hole. It was very easy to install all the electronics inside!There was one defect to the unit - and that's the front panel. There was obviously damage to the front panel at the factory, as someone did a lousy job with some wood filler before it was painted over. If the cabinet weren't rustic - or if I saw it in a furniture store, I'd say, "no way - get me one that wasn't damaged." But, since I bought it online, and the cabinet is rustic anyway, it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb too much. It definitely isn't worth a return, but it did make my heart sink a little to see it. I included photos with the door open and with the door shut (left end) so you can see it. It's there, I don't like it, but not worth a return. Definitely a quality fail at the factory.The right door does, for some reason, become unsquare as it slides to the right. So, closing using the handle is very hard. I have to put hands on both sides of the door to square it up and then slide it left. It slides easily that way. I'll see about adjusting whatever is going on there. But it was goofy.I couldn't have gotten luckier that it arrived on Saturday (two days ahead of schedule). If you're single - I'd recommend arranging delivery for when you get home, because if they leave this at your door... you aren't going to have an easy time getting it inside (I'm also not sure how well it would do being propped up on your porch, either). If you have a friend to help you haul it inside when it arrives - it's not a bad idea to have them on stand-by. Not all UPS drivers are as amazing as mine. They aren't supposed to help you get it inside. Remember, the unit is 113 pounds.All in all, I'd buy this again. I saved a bunch of money buying it through Amazon, and it changes the room completely. I LOVE it and highly recommend it. Nobody will guess that this came in a box!

Easy to put together. Great quality. Looks expensive.

Heavy duty, easy to assemble with one person (you’ll have to move pieces one at a time though). Looks great, I like the taller style. There are plenty of cut outs in the back for cord management and the shelves are adjustable.

This stand is so beautiful. I initially fell for it because it's very similar to a more expensive model at Ashley, but cheaper and just as lovely IMO. The colors are true to the image and the black metal and barn door accents match our other furniture perfectly.I love that it's tall enough for decent storage, yet shallow enough to not take up unreasonable space in our apartment. We have an open floorplan, only about 700 sq ft, so real estate is pretty limited. I do wish the doorfames were a little wider, as they aren't big enough to fit my cloth storage containers in (those drawers for cube organizers and the like) but they still hold a decent amount. They currently house all my crafting and writing supplies, along with our collection of games and mivies. The top is plenty wide enough to store our TV, Switch, and decor, so that's a bonus!Assembly wasn't difficult per se, but I had to get my Dad to help me build it. The pieces are pretty large and can be cumbersome to handle on your own. Plus, the "snap-in" design means you need plenty of leverage to put this together properly. I think it may be doable for one person, but I'm happy I asked for some help! The directions were straight forward and the pieces were labeled nicely. It's a but heavy after fully assembled, so I reccomend some of those foam feet to make it easier to move on hard floors.We didn't have any issues with broken or missing pieces, so it was a pretty smooth buying experience for us. We did have to slightly loosen the top track of the bran doors so that they slide more easily past the door hinges, but just slightly. We didn't even need a washer to fill the gap, just a slight adjustment.Overall, lovely piece. We love it! Would reccomend and buy again!

This stand is very nice and goes well with my farmhouse bedroom.I would say it is fairly easy to assemble the base frame. The only complaint is the fitment of the shelves.The center shelves were VERY difficult to get right, they are almost an inch too short! they didn't fit on the tabs. if they slide to one side that would fall off the tabs. I had to manufacture new "rails" that go all the way across and add screws to hold the then from sliding side to side.The sdie shelves are the correct size but the hole for the tabs were not aligned and the shelves were tilted about 10-15 degrees off. To fix this I had to cut new holes for the tabs to level the shelves.All in all, knowing what had to be done to fit the shelves, this is a 3.5-4 rating. However, the side shelves we easy to fix, the center ones took a little engineering to get right.Bottom line, this would be a great addition to any room. The designers of this piece need to go back to the drawing board! Shelves are not that hard to figure out. making them about 3/4" longer would make them fit perfectly. The side shelves, someone needs to look at the hole placement of the inside deviders. Drilling new 1/4 inch holes fixed it - but at the price of this unit, I shouldn't have had to redesign it myself.Again all in all, I really like the piece and it is well built out of solid wood. Sturdy and is a good addition to my room. I will say unless you have some skills to fix the shelves, you may be frustrated.To solve the center shelves I got a 1/4" dowel rod and fit them in all the way across the inside (bending them so they fit into the holes), then put in wood screws to adjust the shelves into the center (as slide stops).Would I buy it again, yes, but I know what and how to fix it now. Start to finish, it took about an hour to assemble (incliuding the reengineering of the shelves).