sampleaccurate, that wall wart in the lower right corner of the second picture is kinda scaring the daylights out-a-me.
As far as your 3D wiring.... I've seen commercially built systems that were far worse than either of your examples.
A suggestion I would like to add to this thread is the employment of a good variable mains-transformer (variac). This will allow you to bring the mains up slowly. It's a great way to ease in to your first power on test and will generally limit the amount of damage that could occur as opposed to just throwing the full mains in to the circuit. They're not very expensive and one rated for 5 to 10 amps should suffice. MinuteMan Electronics sells these for ~$130 for the 10amp version, 5amp ~ $70 (
http://www.minute-man.com/acatalog/Onli ... rs_58.html). An isolation transformer would be a good idea if you’re going to be playing around with direct mains power supplies. With transformer based power supplies, the power transformer acts as your isolation. Transformer less power supplies really should be tested using an isolation transformer. A variac does not normally do this function! You can find variable transformers that do have isolation, but they are very expensive.
For safety's sake always include a fuse. I suggest one in the mains and one in the HV after the rectifier at minimum.
A lesson I learned was when using test equipment like DMM or oscilloscope or otherwise probing around a live circuit: Whenever possible, keep one hand behind your back. This lessens the likelihood you'll lay that "unused" hand on something hot (physically or electrically). Also provides another layer of electronic safety by lessening the chance of completing a circuit across your heart should your probe hand touch something that is electrified and your "unused" hand happens to be touching something else, like a ground.
Never let your attention wane! If you are tired, STOP! Put the project aside and go get some rest. When troubleshooting a problem and you're becoming frustrated, take a break. Get away from the project, clear your mind and come back when you've settled. If something is keeping you from focusing on your project, put it aside a go take care of the other. Impatience, fatigue, anger and distractions are killers when dealing with high voltages. Take it from someone who’s had their share of picture tube discharges, bare wires, small power cap discharges and HV zaps. They all had two things in common; 1.) I wasn't paying attention. 2.) They all HURT! Anyone of those could have been more serious - I was lucky. Stay alert!
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A simple first build would be a capacitor discharge tool. I built/used one when I was regularly servicing TVs to discharge the picture tube prior to handling. Other techs would just use a screwdriver between the anode pit and the ground mask, but I always hated the loud pop and the nasty arc pits in my screw driver shaft. Here’s what you need:
1.) A length of wire, say 24inches, about 18ga.
2.) 2 insulated gator clips
3.) A 33Kohm 1 watt resistor
4.) 47nF disc capacitor rated to about 600v (higher if dealing with higher voltages)
5.) An SPST rocker or push button switch.
6.) The provided schematic.
7.) A small plastic enclosure
Make sure the main power switch is off and the mains line is disconnected! Apply the gator clips to capacitor leads; throw the switch for about 30 seconds. Measure and remeasure the capacitor voltage to confirm complete discharge. Disconnect the leads.
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of putting the tongue to a 9V battery ....weird but the truth. 
wonders, when finding dead people, with open mouth and a 9V battery in their hand !
...yeah right. Not to mention Duracell with strawberry flavour. 
However, I would like to emphasize the comments about charged capacitors in equipment. I frequenly use poly caps as a last element in a high voltage supply. There are lots of reasons for this, but they have very low leakage and can maintain a charge for a long time. In one recent project I used them in the last two stages and they were isolated from other parts of the PS by a voltage regulator and there was no bleeder resistor. The regulator was effectively a complete DC blockage so that the caps could not discharge back through the earlier PS stages which contained electrolytic caps (that always have some leakage). The net result was nearly two days after shutting off the unit there was still a substantial charge on the polys. When I accidentally shorted one with a test probe the spark was impressive.