I do like the gems on the table.  I will confess, though, that at first glance I thought the stacks of bullion were radiators.

I just chucked it onto the "Drag Things Here To Sell Them" icon below the cell phone in the inventory.  Gone.

Two-story columns.

Edit: and scary ghosts!

You can hit +40 without the gems, just with a good number of high-environment items.  So, presumably, gems are just another decorative thing to toss around.  Thanks Prima Guides - not wrong, but not overly right, either.

No dice - they seem to be immortal.  I left a bunch scattered about my Sims' front porch for weeks to no avail.

Confirmed.  I have searched high and low for a fix with no success as of yet.

That's likely true re: space.  But this one dead chair thing is something else - or a further pooching.  Because once it's borked, it's borked.

Mine was in the middle of a room with lots of space, and the Sims had been using it. Then it died. And no chair would become one with that side of the board again for love or money. Replace the board, all is well for a good long time, then borked again.  I've never watched to see what happened pre-borking. 

There is a problem with chess sets period where one chair will freak out like that. I have no info re: why it happens.  Replacing the chair won't fix it.  Replacing the chess table will.  Until it happens again.

One side of the chess set seems to become irreperably "detached" from any chair next to it - if you try to move table plus chairs as a set, you'll see that only one chair goes with it. Replace the table and you'll be fine... until it happens again.

!! 

Not sure if you're thinking of the kitchen ones, or if you're hoping for a big green truck. But they do exist as kitchen appliances.  Either sort by Room --> Kitchen --> Disposal  or sort by Function --> Appliances --> Large Appliances.

Buy and build modes need little search engines.

Teleporter is upgradable at Level 9.  That's what level my Sim was when she got hers, ergo I don't know if she could have done it at Level 8. Non-"perfected" teleporters can send you to the wrong place, though you tend to end up in the right neck of the woods.