I like purple too but not if the purple substance is a pile of mashed
potatoes. ;-)
My point is that a "nice" design to one person can be really ugly to someone
else. Personally I hate websites with a black background and colored
writing. Others seem to think they're terrific. If you go to
www.webspagesthatsuck.com, you'll find some examples of things not to do -
which is just as important as things you should do.
Use Google and do a search on something like "good website design". There
are scads of sites out there to give you good suggestions. Good luck on your
design.