Home Decorators Collection

Full review
I've ordered twice from HDC - both times I received my item in a timely manner (but they were both in stock). The first time (a few years ago) I ordered a storage ottoman, which came in perfect condition and looked exactly as pictured, and just recently I ordered an Amanda widescreen TV stand with 2 doors and open shelving in the center, which came as promised in about a week. As for quality, the unit is great in that it is real wood, and it is sturdy in that regard. However, the holes are not drilled precisely where they need to be, so a few things are a bit off. For example, on my unit, the metal stand is not completely aligned with the borders of the cabinet, so the wood sticks out too much in some parts and shows the metal stand in other parts. Also, a couple millimeter variation here and there where the cam bolts and cam locks are supposed to go means that the cam locks don't tighten around the head of the cam bolt as well as they should. As a result, some of the vertical boards were a little wobbly. When I put the TV on the stand, of course the entire thing was too heavy to really wobble, so I suppose if someone just looked at the stand and shook it a little it would seem completely secure. But I know that the cams aren't tightened as they should be and I'm crossing my fingers that they're good enough. Also, the weight of the TV has made the top shelf sink down ever so slightly, so the wood is pressing down against the right door so it doesn't glide open - I have to pull hard and it scrapes against the underside of the top piece of wood. The left door is fine - I think this can also be attributed to the pre-drilled holes (there was more room on the bottom of the door than along the top). The quality of the wood is pretty nice and smooth - the beech colored unit that I received shows some odd black marks that really shouldn't be there and a few knicks in the wood. The silver stand is very cheaply saudered, which can be seen on the undersides. This is definitely not Crate and Barrel quality, but it's cheap so I'm not sure it's fair to expect more. As for assembly, it was a bit of a pain. It took at least 5 hours, and I consider myself pretty good at putting stuff together. The shelves hold the height of a DVD if you put the shelf in the center, which is great. And they are deep so you can store plenty of DVDs (4 rows I think). The adjustable center shelf is nice as well. I did not put it in the center as pictured and instead put it 1/4 of the way down and have a PS3 in one shelf and a VCR (I know, but still) and cable box stacked on the top shelf. The center shelves are generously sized for cable boxes, DVD players etc, and there is plenty of room on the sides for ventilation. So the final verdict - I like it, it's cheap, I'm hoping it doesn't come tumbling down, it is just barely worth the assembly time and concerned sidelong glances I give it when I enter the room. In the future I will gladly ditch it and just pony up for a pre-built $1000 one from a major store.