Templates versus grassroot design

After finishing the phish-proof (virtually, if not 100% practically) login system, I am thinking about putting my js projects details and designing steps online as tutorials. After viewing several tutorial websites for display themes, I have decided on the general theme of my site. I then tried finding a template for my site (to be honest, I feel it a shameful act to try and build my site on a predefined template by someone else, but oh well )

I tried several template sites but strangely enough, there was none that I found satisfactory. They simply had too many objects on the screen, namely, a top menu (horizontal), a left side menu (vertical), a footer menu-like linkbar and several sidebars (probably divs) in the main body. I want a site that is rather simple. One simple top (horizontal) primary navigation menu (without drop-down expansions), a simple (vertical) secondary navigation menu on the left (vertical) and that's all. Of course there would need to be a main body section.

What I wanted to ask here is, should I try and edit the templates that I have available and go on editing them or try and build my own template? The problem with building my own template is that when I create individual objects (menus and font styles and borders etc) they look very graceful and simple, but when I put two or more of them together on one page, they look so stupid and out-of-sync with one another

How do you guys go about with your visual designs?