there is a way to design to keep things simple, clean, easy to read, and still add a little something i think. that's what a designer is supposed to do, design around the clients' needs. So i think there would be a great way to take everyone's concern and make something.
i am def one of those pple b/c i am at work and on the computer all day the LAST thing i want to do is look at a crazy site that'll just give me a headache.
my thinking is take the maltesetalk.com site as an example .. if we use the current YT as a template .. keep the blue where its is but maybe add a light gray with paw prints a gray that's slightly darker but make it paler/transparent like .. so the background is a background and enphasizes the text and the blocks ... or even if you did lavender have a light lavender background but keep the blocks (the current blue parts) white with a border .. or something .. keeping things simple but elegant and clean ...
I think something along those lines and keeping in minds everyones concerns would be very do-able.