so happy with the purchase. It took 6 hours with a break. The directions are only visual diagram directions. Pay attention to the visual placements as far as screw holes, etc. You do not need a drill even when there is not pre designated holes - the wood in pine but still soft enough to push the screw into placement and then screw in. My daughter and I put it together our selves. I would suggest the when putting together the top bed you don't add the last mattress slot nearest to where you want the steps to be until you put the stair rail up top on, cuz you'll need to get an angle that is in the way - we put it all together and just had to undo it and then screw back in again - so don't worry about it if you make a mistake. One other suggestion is that when you build the lower bunk bed, I would put in the frame bracket one screw in (see the diagram of that last placement to make it make sense)- that way when your finishing the stairs you'll only have to get under the bed to screw the other bracket into the staircase. We didn't know it so since this is a final bed direction, it was a difficult angle to get from under a small space - and if your not an average built it might be impossible to angle in. The staircase has a portion that goes behind the bed area (2-3 inches), it does not have predrilled holes - you don't need predrilled - we pushed screwed them in - one of us starting at the top, the other at the bottom and pushing the wood together screwing in toward the middle - sounds more difficult that it was - it was super easy. My 4 year old twin granddaughters just love it - best purchase ever.....
TIPS FOR PUTTING TOGETHER
so happy with the purchase. It took 6 hours with a break. The directions are only visual diagram directions. Pay attention to the visual placements as far as screw holes, etc. You do not need a drill even when there is not pre designated holes - the wood in pine but still soft enough to push the screw into placement and then screw in. My daughter and I put it together our selves. I would suggest the when putting together the top bed you don't add the last mattress slot nearest to where you want the steps to be until you put the stair rail up top on, cuz you'll need to get an angle that is in the way - we put it all together and just had to undo it and then screw back in again - so don't worry about it if you make a mistake. One other suggestion is that when you build the lower bunk bed, I would put in the frame bracket one screw in (see the diagram of that last placement to make it make sense)- that way when your finishing the stairs you'll only have to get under the bed to screw the other bracket into the staircase. We didn't know it so since this is a final bed direction, it was a difficult angle to get from under a small space - and if your not an average built it might be impossible to angle in. The staircase has a portion that goes behind the bed area (2-3 inches), it does not have predrilled holes - you don't need predrilled - we pushed screwed them in - one of us starting at the top, the other at the bottom and pushing the wood together screwing in toward the middle - sounds more difficult that it was - it was super easy. My 4 year old twin granddaughters just love it - best purchase ever.....