As a Desktop Linux user since 2005 who has tried over 20 combinations of Desktop Environments/Window Managers on a wide variety of machines, it seems to me that

As a Desktop Linux user since 2005 who has tried over 20 combinations of Desktop Environments/Window Managers on a wide variety of machines, it seems to me that you consider "from the ground up" a selling point. If you want a beautiful (beauty is in the eye of the beholder) desktop, I'll agree that that's the only way to go for a personalized/custom feel. I've settled on StumpWM for underpowered laptops/terminal servers and openbox for all my desktop needs. As somebody who does not have the ability to create something from scratch like you're doing, I feel that openbox is as "barebones" as I can imagine a WM being, by default, and allows for AMAZING cutomization, without proprietary (unique) configuration methods that LXDE and Fluxbox use. Edit: I have three machines running openbox, all three are tied for "most beautiful desktop I've ever seen" (again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder) and all three are set up completely differently (even Conky displays are each unique) but have the same configuration file locations/methods.