Discussed style with Martin and Claire. Decided to pursue a complete redesign rather than a touch-up.
For my own reference:
Elements we're looking at include a change in palette (purple or green perhaps, but definitely less sombre and more white(space)) with some flourishes utilizing something iconic like a rooster/hen motif (cuckold theme) and/or a fleur-de-lis. Found some good images at openclipart.org and wikipedia.
The menu will go to the left, and remain open (and short). We talked about capping it with imagery from the collection (such as the loupe dude at the top and a dynamic one at the bottom).
Popups generated from <bibl> entries will be to the right as discusssed; Claire has already begun work on some descriptive text.

Minutes posted are (again) catchup for the last few days and include discussions earlier this week.