Which window manager?

[OilyFish]

And xfce:

http://www.xfce.org/index.php?page=screenshots&lang=en

[distrodawg]

If you want to learn to write some configuration files to use it, FVWM is actually about the most configurable desktop in the known universe.
http://www.fvwm.org/screenshots/desktops/
Otherwise, use the wm you love on your own box. As for "building your own distro", do you really mean that? Customizing debian on your own box isn't really "building a distro", it's just "customizing debian on your own box"!