Layout and composition issues for portfolio homepage

How’s everyone doing,

My homepage suffers from layout/composition issues.

Address: http://www.design415.com/design415_homepage.png

I have the following elements: - Title - Caption that explains the site (below title, in the banner area) - Work sample w/ description at the right. - Contact info, copyright info, and validation links.

Because I have only 4 major elements on my page, I’ve found out that I still need to fill up the space between the work sample & the footer.

What else should I have on there? I realize that Wordpress-themed portfolios are common these days, however I am not much of a blogger. Add a twitter bar? The main content (the work sample) appears to float on the page and I don’t really like that.

Finally, the composition issues: (1) I don’t know how I should display my work sample. I want to keep the red file-tab design, but should I place my short, one sentence description at the right or below? Is there an alternative color I can use besides using a regular rounded box as the background for my description?

(2) The footer. Because reddish orange is the primary color, I want to use it in places where it really counts: Behind a title, a caption, and of course, the logo.
But I don’t know if I should use the same color for my footer, which is why I created a design that’s a little faded (doesn’t distract the eye). The footer takes up space because I want to put my contact info (twitter link, email, alumni email, facebook, etc) and to take up space.

Thanks for your advice!

http://www.design415.com/design415_homepage.png