@AlaMoi Thank you so much!
On reflection, I have a cousin who does some pretty fine woodworking, I might try to import him . . . I mean invite him and his wife and kid up for a [Working] Trip To The Big City.
I actually do like things looking a bit aged/patina-ed; I just don't think that really works that well with this type of style (which you indicate as book-matched-veneer; plus all the edge texture, and the big ole' statement-legs . . .).
On the chairs, we got rid of them way backalong, they had that old caning on the backs and were just a disaster. But I hear you on the sideboard, which is displaying some extremely weird decay along its edges.
No one living from my family of origin approves of my chair replacement, but they do eat the food here. And I think my mother might've been at least a little piqued (yes, therapy, I got it).
