With me, I usually have a rough idea of what I want the site to look like before I begin. I usually do rough layout using MS word and then I use photo editing software to create a design concept, for example look at the attached image, its a rough concept of the new skin I am doing for my website.

I think move things around a bit, try different colours till achieve what I really like. Sometimes like you suggested, I spend hours sometime days on a stuff that I end up discarding

I always use div and css combination for webdesigning. For ideas I visit websites like CSS Remix, where I found something special. I make that a little more special

Web Design is about trying different designs before you get to the one you like.

Looks pretty clean, nice. I like the glitch/notch in the background fade.

When I start a new site or have been asked for a special function I'll plan it in Fireworks 1st, when it comes to colours I (or get the client to) pick a dominant colour then use a colour wheel to help get the rest. Otherwise

I've seen a few sites and templates which have a title bar then bit of graphic then the menu and the rest of the page. Which I think looks really nice (when done right) but a bit of a waste of valuable space

Humous

I save all my ideas, even if I don't like them, for later inspiration.

I've still got code lying round from 7 years ago, and images from a year ago (when I started editing graphics).