Hi Zone,
I like where I think you're going with that design. The deeper colors give it a lot more modern/richer feel. I've got to admit I was never a real big fan of the sidebar (I never use it), but we could script it in pretty easily using layers/javascript if you want it to slide in/out. Maybe I misunderstood your concept though... Do you want the sidebar to always be there instead? Anyway, let me know what you'd like to do and I'm happy to help out any way I can
All the best,
E3