My try on cabinet restoration

Hi
I came upon 2 old bedside cabinets, in rather poor state and decided to
restore 1 of them. Before I start work on other one, I'd like to ask for
a few advices. You can see originals and finished cabinet on this page
(sorry for rather poor pictures, have to learn that also).

http://free-ck.t-com.hr/Sawaar/wood/cabinet.html

The door. I used PU glue (brown) glue veneer on. I thought I might get
some bleed through and I did. Rather ruined the leaf part, but I managed
to sand the rest of it. But my real problem was something else. I bought
and used veneer gummed tape. After removing it there were indentations
where the tape used to be. It took me a lot of sanding to repair that.
How come? Did I use too much pressure (with clamps)? Red veneer used for
leaves is rather hard, almost like oak (don't know it's name), but I
could see indentations.

Also I used polyurethane matte finish, but had some problems using it.
After I mixed components it really fast became too thick, so I had
problem applying it. Is that normal?
Would appreciate any advice.