I faced the same dilema a while back:
http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=252431
I put an LCD in a 1951 porthole TV cabinet and it worked perfectly. Granted, my TV wasn't as nice as yours. The nice thing about porthole CRTs is, have hardly any curve to them and the LCD fit behind the safety glass with no gaps. Granted, finding a 4:3 LCD TV isn't easy anymore, but I had one laying around. Anyhow, I saved the CRT guts for the day I do decide to restore it the right way. I made no hard mods to the original cabinet, so it can be put back to original in like 15 minutes.
It's fun for novelty watching, or ambiance, but it could never be our "main TV" due to the corners being cropped, heh. It's in our 50s themed dining room now. My wife loves it. She likes to have old-timey shows playing on it on while she works.
My experience might not help you much, but if you could find a dead porthole to convert, they are easy
.
I'm not going to say don't convert yours. But I will say don't modify it in a way that's irreversible. Because a lousy conversion job wont please the wife, and a chopped up original won't resell for much. So think twice before you modify anything too much, heh. Mine was a super-easy deal, and I had nothing to lose. The wife was happy, all went well...