I'm going to forfeit my usual technique and focus on design here, since you're a "non-designer."
#1: Congratulations! You're a designer now.
#2: You actually picked a color scheme. Thank Cthulu.
In General
Okay, silliness aside, here's what I think. The header is bad, really bad. And you have no logo, simply an unmodified typeface. But it's clickable! Good for you! You've got a little bit of typography going on here, but nothing particularly impressive. The footer is as bad as the header...You're design is in it's basic stages, but you're doing better than me and my super-red background with bright yellow links days. Here are some ideas to keep you going:
Color Theory
Designs are all about colors, deep down. Then structure, color function, graphics, effects, and validation. We're going to start with some color theory. In general, most websites fall into the same color categories:
Design - Light schemes, more inclined to blues or or reds for accents.
Gaming - Dark themes, look out for green.
Interior - Tan themes, with pattern usage.
Portfolios - Vary. Usually involve vector or high quality illustrations
Blogs - Usually stick with three main colors that work together.
Directories - White backgrounds, maybe two colors in use. One for headings and one for links.
See what I mean? I'm not saying you have to conform to others, but be aware if you're stuck about what niche your site falls into, and how others would better recognize it.
Color Functions
Colors in your scheme should have functions. Use x shade of blue for background, y shade of blue for the main content, and x shade of green for hyper-links to accent the design. Each color should be given a function in your design, and they should all work together.
http://www.problogger.net/blog/ is a simple example. White is used for content areas, light blue for links, dark gray for headings, and tan for the background. As well, there's a dark/light gray accent at the bottom in the footer areas.
Similarly, you should have areas designated for certain functions. (Sidebars, headers, navigation, etc.)
Logo Designs
You lack one, but it's really not that hard. (You'll notice my specialty is finding a nice font, and adding a gradient. END. Seriously, it's that easy) I'd like to take a moment to stop, and talk about a big difference between logos and headers.
http://www.diligentdesign.net has a logo. A very simple one. Heck, I could send you the font and you could make it in say...one minute.
http://ma.tt/ has a header. See the difference? Headers are more elaborate, and add interest to your website. Logos are used for branding. Think of it this way:
Can you put it on a T-shirt?
Before beginning your design (if you're like me, and start with the logo) decide if you need a
header or a
logo.
Structure
Your design needs to be structured. Now, of course you can break borders, but it needs to be controlled chaos. For a firm foundation, you should consider grid based design. (
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007...ased-approach/) Once you have a firm foundation, you can get things like
http://www.villatamarabol.com/, which has no obvious "squares," but is structured.
I hope this helped. Let me know if you need more resources, information, or another review.
