Damen Napoleon Dining Side Chairs Natural Brown and White (Set of 2)

The "instructions" weren't really instructions but mostly a few labled pictures to show you how the unit should look during assembly. Now, In my case I must tell you that I am a very handy person and didn't have any real problems. However, if I weren't, I can see that there could be many. So, I'm going to tell you several "tips" that will make things a lot easier and less frustrating. By-the-way, I reduced my assembly time from 1 hr. 5 min for the first chair to 25 minutes for the fourth chair--you know, the old learning curve.With the instructions in hand: 1. In step 1 you are placing the SIDE RAILS into the FRONT LEG FRAME. Simple enough and fairly fool proof since the side rails are interchangeable (that's why there are two holes in the center, one up and one down). The only problem I had here is that the allen wrench was difficult to get into the brass screw top. Using a fine flat file, I filed down the very end just a little to give it a bit of a point. Be sure and file at a fairly sharp angle, about 30 to 45 degrees, so you leave plenty to seat into the screw. Another thing I did here was to add some wood glue to the slotted dowels and flat surface of the SIDE RAIL--a little goes a long way. The glue is not part of the instructions but it will add strength to you chair. Tighten. 2. In step 2, when joining the FRONT LEG FRAME and SIDE RAIL assembly you just created, place the CHAIR BACK on its back on a flat surface (I used the floor on a piece of carpet so as not to scratch the back of the CHAIR BACK). Put screws in the top two holes only of the SIDE RAILS and insert them into the appropriate holes of the CHAIR BACK. You'll have to apply a little pressure to the SIDE RAILS to get them to fit in but that's normal. Start the two screws a few turns only. Now you can easly lift the FRONT LEG FRAME enough to insert the short and long STRETCHERS without having the SIDE RAILS come out of their holes. Once the STRETCHERS are in, insert the two remaining brass screws and tighten all four but leave the stretchers loose for now. Wow, it looks like a chair!. 3. In step 3 put a blanket or several sheets of newspaper on a table or bench and place the WOOD SEAT upside down with the leg grooves away from you. Turn your chair assembly upside down and place it on top of the WOOD SEAT. For the rest of this part I used an electric drill with a 3/32 drill bit and a phillips driver with a 1 inch extender. Carefully align the chair assembly on to the seat so that it is flush in the rear and equally distant on both sides. In one side or the other, drill a pilot hole into the WOOD SEAT through the pre drilled hole in the SIDE RAIL using the 3/32 bit. If you are using a very long drill bit be careful not to drill through the WOOD SEAT. Using one of the SHORT PANHEAD SCREWS insert it tightly onto the WOOD SEAT with the phillips driver. Putting downward pressure on the chair assembly so it won't move, drill three more pilot holes in the WOOD SEAT through the three remaining holes in the chair assembly. Tighten down the three remaining SHORT PANHEAD screws. Next, twist the bottom STRETCHERS so that the predrilled screw holes are directly on the bottom of the chair and screw in the LONG PANHEAD SCREWS. Then, chances are your electric drill will not fit between the LONG and SHORT STRETCHERS and be able to line up with the screw heads in the SHORT STRETCHERS. If so, slightly twist the SHORT STRETCHERS towards you, just enough to allow your phillips driver to line up correctly with the screw head. Screw in the four remaining LONG PANHEAD SCREWS and your done.Hope this helps.

My biggest mistake was purchasing something from Amazon.com without first looking at the customer reviews. I will never do that again. Had I known that the seats were not pre-drilled, I wouldn’t have purchased these chairs. Ultimately, the fact that the seats weren’t pre-drilled wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I didn’t follow the advice other folks had on this issue (and am surprised so few people mentioned it as being a problem), but came up with my own method instead.I have to say I’m also surprised by the number of positive reviews for these chairs – they really aren’t that nice. While they are definitely solid, and the “cushion seats” are nice-looking, the rest of the chair looks as if it came straight off the assembly line. The best way to describe them is that they try hard to be elegant - but I think they just end up looking tacky.I set aside a Saturday afternoon to assemble the chairs. I have assembled furniture before, and while at times it’s been challenging, those experiences were nothing like what I experienced with the Napoleon Side Chairs.Here are the specific issues I had:(1) I was disappointed when I removed the parts from the package. Beyond the fact that I thought they looked cheap, the scroll design on one of the chairs was not cleanly indented. It was scratched off to the side of the design. It’s sort of like when a child colors outside the lines in a coloring book.(2) The instructions are very hard to make sense of, as well as inaccurate. The diagrams are unclear, and that’s putting it mildly.(3) I found that I had to use packaging tape to tape the long and short stretchers into the legs while I was fastening the side rails to the chair back. The stretchers will pop out no matter what you do. Even if I had another person with me, he or she would not have been able to hold all four stretchers in place while I was working on the side rails with the Allen wrench. It would be physically impossible. Without something to hold in the stretchers, you will need three people to work on one chair, and that would probably present some difficulties of its own. So be prepared with packaging tape, otherwise, working with the Allen wrench that is provided will be unpleasant.I finally got the first chair almost completely assembled (it took me over four hours). I was sweating, having done battle with those stretchers! I was at Step 3, which is where you are supposed to: “align and fasten cushion seat to side rails using short pan head screws and tighten with screw driver.” Seems pretty straightforward, right? Doesn’t that sound like there are holes into which these screws will be inserted? That is what the accompanying diagram seems to indicate with arrows – i.e., that you are supposed to insert screws through the holes in the side rails straight up into the cushion seats. Problem is: there are no accompanying holes in the cushion seats.I won’t go through the details of the rigamarole I went through with customer service (Furniture Creations). I ended up giving them 1 star for Awful service. They didn’t know the product. In retrospect, I should have simply checked these reviews to get my answers. Unfortunately, I didn’t think of it until much later, but then neither did the customer service reps from Furniture Creations or Coaster Furniture.I assembled the second chair, sans seats. It still took a long time – a little more than two hours. Even though I didn’t care for the chairs (and knew I didn’t care for them), I wasn’t going to take them apart, repackage them, and carry that huge box (I’m 5’2”) to my car, drive to the post office, unload the box and carry it into the post office. I suppose I could have arranged for Federal Express to pick the package up at my door (I don’t know how that works – is it extra?), but I still wasn’t going to go through all that hassle in reverse.For weeks, I sat on wood seats that were unsecured to the rest of the chair. I wasn’t going to get a fat person to sit on the chair in order to force screws through the wood; nor was I going to attempt to pound the seats onto the screws, as someone suggested. What I ended up doing was securing the cushion seats to the chairs with packaging tape, turning the chairs upside down on my kitchen table (put a towel underneath) and drilling holes into the resistant wood material.This would not be so bad, and I would have given these chairs a higher score (three stars) if the instructions had been clear and had anticipated the problems that folks would have. For example, if the instructions had said you need packaging tape, and to use tape to secure the cushion seats to the side rails (as I have just done), and if the instructions had gone into detail about turning the chairs upside down, using a towel, etc., that would have been okay. But the instructions are extremely unclear, set out on one page with fuzzy illustrations, and don’t reveal details that should be revealed. If the customer has a clear idea as to what’s required it shouldn’t take hours to put these chairs together, the way it did for me.My opinion is that these chairs are not worth the amount of effort you have to put into assembling them. If they came fully assembled, that would be a fair deal for the amount of money you pay for them.

These chairs are attractive and sturdy but the assembly could be easier. They send you one of those L-shaped Allen Wrenches with the hardware and you need to hang onto it tightly because your typical, multi-set will NOT fit into the positions needed to tighten them. The most difficult portion is attaching the front leg assembly with two seat supports that run down the side. There is a counter-sunk hole about 3" diameter that has a bolt in its wall. That means that you have to use the wrench provided.... no ratchet I own would fit, no multi-Allan Wrench.... I bought four of these so that really slowed down the process (2 of these assembly steps per chair).I was very surprised at the sheer amount of hardware used to finish assembly. Per chair there are: 6- Allen Bolts and 12-Philips head screws. Aside from the two bolts described above, the rest of the assembly is pretty fast and straight-forward.The front two legs are one-piece and the back two legs/back are one-piece as well, making them very sturdy. However, the decorative flair at the top of the back (for lack of a better term) is NOT. They are pre-attached (I assume with glue) and one of the four chairs I bough was loose on one side making a clicking sound each time you sit down.Otherwise these chair don't budge. Once you've put all those bolts and screws in, the chair feels as though it has an exceptionally high capacity and is very, very solid.One final thing: the butt print! I don't know if it's advertised but the seats are 'impressed' with a spot for your bum making them more comfortable than a flat, wooden seat would. Enjoy!