Stain Job gone Wrong

So here's your opportunity Adam, go ahead and bask freely in telling me "I told you so." Adam has had a running joke with me, making fun of how I seem to always say I'm going to "sand and stain" different furniture pieces to make them beautiful, rather than buy nice quality stuff. That was my plan for our bedroom furniture, and I thought I'd surprise Adam when he comes home for his R & R with everything beautifully stained... Wrong. I've worked my A off on this bedroom dresser. Apparently it's impossible to sand things perfectly even, and stain is completely "unforgiving," so here it is, lots of sanding, three coats of stain and one coat of ploly-whatever-you-call-it later. I thought I'd take a picture of the "before and after" and see what you think. Not only do I really not love it, but I can't bear the thought of going through all that again (and again and again) to finish the rest of the furniture to match. If the opinion poll is overwhelmingly positive I'll do it, but if not, I'm done. We'll just have one mis-matched piece of furniture. OR--or I could just paint everything black and make it look "distressed." What am I saying, I'm sure that wouldn't "come off without a hitch" either. I guess I'm not the "home improvement whiz" I'd invisioned myself to be.