I bought this bench because I thought it looked stylish plus functional. It definitely is not the lighter color shown in the stock photo, it is darker and not a light oak color. As shown in the pictures, it is not high quality either. The wood putty is very apparent and not stained to match (although you can’t really see it once assembled). The seat does not sit on the wood supports on the inside of the bench (not sure if that matters, but this means only 4 screws are holding the seat up, see picture). The clearance for shoes is about 4.5 inches for the top shelf and 4 inches for the bottom shelf. I do still think this is a very fashionable piece, but the quality doesn’t quite justify the price.