Personally I love the look of the timber.. though I could relate with your wife as it could be a tad "busy" for internal householdĀ furniture... but then again I'm a wog and have divorced for less disagreements.
from (mostly) dead trees
If you find a few leaves sprouting in the drawers, you'll know which trees weren't "mostly dead".
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD