Agree with others who said the glider is totally unnecessary.
I was like OP, very worried about aesthetics and not wanting to spend a ton of dough on something I wasn't sure I liked or needed. We punted, got a cheap rocking chair, never liked it and ultimately put a big comfy club chair in baby's room (we already had it -- thanks to the lady who sold it to me for a steal in 2005 on craigslist from her house in Shaw

The chair is very much our style (since we already had it) and is very comfy. I did 90% of my nursing on the sofa or in my bed, so that chair was only used for 1st and last nursing of the day, and for snuggling and reading books. Son has always fit comfortably up there with me and we still use it (age 3.5). And it still looks good.
Yes, I agree with others that the ugliness of the glider is the least of your worries, given how ugly baby gear is. However... the ugly baby gear was pretty much over for us by age 2. No more bouncers, rockers, swings, high chairs, etc. If you buy an ugly glider for $800, it will be with you FOREVER (or, at least until you can justify tossing it).
Many of my friends who bought furniture specifically targeted to babies, told me that they regretted it a couple years later. The stuff is expensive, has limited selection (so you buy something you think is cute for a baby but not necessarily what you would have bought for "real life"), and the marketing tries to sell you that the cost is worth it because it's not just for the first couple years. But that adorable mocha crib, now converted into a kids' bed, is just plain ugly. And it has teeth marks on the headboard (which used to be the crib rail that baby teethed on). We bought the cheap crib at ikea, donated to a mom's group as soon as he grew out of it at age 2 (he's a big kid and likes to sleep all spread out), and he's been in a regular bedroom set since age 2 (a fab vintage set that I picked up when I went to college and had refinished). It looks great in his room with some kids stuff on the walls, a fun carpet... and there's no pressure to upgrade. We get a lot of compliments.