Please Pardon Our Apperance

I've wanted to re-do this little blog for awhile. Thinking a new simple, clean background would really jazz it up. However, I had a crutch- my old background, that was 5 years familiar (eek!), and as long as it was there, I was not inclined to make any major changes. So we did away with it. Starting from scratch. 

I am hoping to pull together my own template, but may end up using a pre-designed template from a store on Etsy. Haven't totally decided. 

Any recommendations on resources to self-teach blogging design 101?!? 

Thanks for your patience and hopefully the white won't burn your retinas out!