Though we moved into our current house over 3 years ago now, it's taken us a surprising amount of time to find the right furniture for various rooms. For our youngest daughter's room, which is quite small, we found sourcing appropriate furniture that wasn't extortionate particularly challenging. Having searched high and low we found the Hastings range in Marks and Spencer, and this wardrobe along with a matching "Sleep Station" bed is the furniture that she has in her room. The bed, (which includes a desk and other storage) along with this wardrobe have both proved to be excellent choices, furniture that should see her through childhood into her teenage years and maybe beyond.

This particular wardrobe is available in both a white and pine finish, we have the latter colour. I should say straight away that I am not a huge pine fan, however the wood this wardrobe is made of is a honey rather than a yellowish colour and looks really good, the finish is excellent and there are no knots in the veneer at all, the quality is first rate. You can buy this wardrobe on line, but it should also be available to view in larger stores if you want to check the exact colour.

Though the wardrobe comes in a flat pack, Marks and Spencer provide a service to assemble the item in its entirety and remove all the boxes, there is no extra charge for this service and delivery is free. We found, having ordered on the Marks and Spencer website that both the organisation of delivery (in a fixed time slot), and the service as regards assembly and clearing up afterwards was excellent - it was assembled promptly and all packaging was taken away. They even borrowed the hoover to tidy up after themselves!

Once assembled the wardrobe is a sturdy piece of furniture which has plenty of storage space - it's quite a compact item (H188 x W96 x D54cm ), but as you can see from the picture above and in even more detail on the company's website, there's lots of place to put clothes and other items. There's one hanging rail, as my daughter is only 4 we find that her clothes don't take up too much height of the wardrobe and so she has room underneath for larger toys. The drawers too are quite generously sized, they are on strong metal runners and easily opened and closed, the drawer handles are a discrete burnished metal and complement the look of the wardrobe really well in my opinion. I find the drawers amply big enough to store all of my child's clothes that are not hung up, you could of course also use them for shoes or toys if you wanted to.

If I had one criticism of this item, it would be that the top of it is made of a thin board in the middle rather than being solid - you can't actually see this, so it's not too much of a problem unless you wanted to store things on top of the wardrobe, which we don't, but it's probably good to know. Similarly the back of the wardrobe is of a thin board. That said the parts of the wardrobe you can see are very solid and as I have already suggested the storage offered is good - the hanging rail is at the right height and very well made, and the hinges on the door itself, being metal, are solid too. The wardrobe has magnetic connectors on the door, shuts easily, and stays shut.

Overall we are really pleased with this wardrobe. Not having to assemble it was a boon, and I do think it will last a good few years, it's a step above self assembly furniture in my opinion. You should be aware that, along with some of Marks and Spencers other furniture items the price of this varies quite considerably, at time of writing it's £399, however we paid £319 during a "furniture event" and other promotions may apply (don't forget quidco also). I think for the price we paid it is good value for the quality of the item, delivery and assembly. I have taken one star off purely for the back and top panels being of less good construction than the rest of the item, but I would still be happy to recommend this piece of furniture for a child's room or smaller area, it's been a good buy for us.




== To view other items in the range and this wardrobe in more detail visit www.marksandspencer.com and search "hastings" ==