@n80 I was thinking about all this last night. I have a decent band saw and could resaw some of my nice white oak and use that like a veneer on the front. I could not cut it anywhere near as thin as bought veneer but I might play around with this idea.
I doubt you’ll have any regrets once all is said and done. No doubt there’ll be some unforeseen "puzzles" to solve along the way, but overcoming the hurdles is part of the fun and reward of a journey like this.
I don’t think it’ll be difficult to have speakers that will surprise and impress you. Decide what’s important to you, and choose what you think can satisfy those needs. I’m a believer in all the little things that some don’t think matter much- from cabinet enhancements to stiffen and reduce box resonance, to treating the front baffle for less diffraction, to flush mounting the drivers and keeping the driver centers as close as possible, to improved crossover parts, wires, and connections (copper or brass and no steel), and even laying any inductors at 90° to each other. ...doing as many of these as you can will certainly make a difference, or at least lay the groundwork for a difference. Plus, you may be able to pursue some of these upgrades at some point down the road if you get the urge....other tweaks are best off done from the onset of designing the cabinets for improved sound quality.
Keep us posted!