This turned out to be a very impressive shelf. I was first impressed by the way it was packaged. It was double boxed. The outer box took the brunt of the handling and shipping while the inner box protected the wood. It arrived without a scratch on it. Well, other than the wear and tear it took while it was part of a barn!They must have just put the last coat of finish on it before shipping because when I took it out of the box, there was a strong smell of varnish or wood stain or whatever they used to finish the wood. I had to put it out on the back porch over night to let it air out. By morning it was fine.The next thing that impressed me was the weight. This isn't just a plank of wood. This is a serious chunk of lumber. I was a little concerned at first about hanging something that heavy on my wall, but then the cupboards hanging in my kitchen had to weigh a lot more than this, so...Then I got a little concerned about the way you hang it. There was this thin piece of sheet metal bent at a right angle you attached to the wall and the shelf fit over that. But it worked like a charm. I'm not the world's best do-it-yourselfer, something that might take a more experienced person an hour will take me three hours but... I did get it hung. I managed to find two studs in the wall to attach it and I used an additional dry wall anchor just to be sure. And it's solid as a rock.One word of warning, have a strong power drill to use, with long drill bits. My little Black and Decker wasn't up to the task and my drill bits were too short. I had to "armstrong" it and that was a lot of work.But it looks good. It's obviously and old piece of wood, weathered and worn. It's got a lot of character. I really like it. I hung it over my big screen t.v. and use it to store my DVD's. I recommend it to anyone looking for an attractive, impressive single floating shelf.