To get a cool website that works for you (instead of you working for it), there are a couple ways to go. (well, probably a lot of ways:-) )
From my testing and trying here are two systems among others I have tried:
HTML Templates
1 - cool html templates can do great for creating a static site
(static [...]
WordPress Customization Guide for Newbies - Elliott Back:
An informative guide with plenty of tips to get started turning wordpress into a polished site for publishing your own content.
A great place to link! (Several good plugins demonstrated on this site.)