handle commands and update buttons/lists state?

Maybe it's possible to now create the buttons and list myself and controlling their sate updating, but to initialize the editor with full toolbar and move the buttons and list to a new position using javascript? So simply modifying the DOM...
Does anyone have any experience with this? Will replacing them with DOM:element.insertBefore, leave the functionality intact?

This seems to be working, which is great news! Saving me a hell of a job!