I've nearly finished writing the main functionality of a Rails project, and I have to start thinking about how to actually design the site, if I'm going to use a CSS framework, etc.<p>I typically have the most trouble with this part. If I use Bootstrap, I end up with an ugly Bootstrap-looking interface, or a badly customized one. And if I write css by hand, I have no concept of how to make a button or content area look nice. Typically it's white square boxes with a black border and a #eee page background.<p>How do you go about designing and styling your projects? Do you use a css framework or any design tools? Examples and links would be welcome as well.
I usually buy a HTML theme from ThemeForest. It won't match what you're doing exactly, but I find it pretty easy to manipulate the elements a good theme provides to create something that both doesn't look generic like Bootstrap and also looks 1000% better than if I did it myself.