I agree with your first point about the footer, but I feel the header is just right. I understand its pushing some content further below the fold but that is something I am prepared to sacrifice for aesthetics - its a design blog, the look is everything. The logo text is lovely how it is. Thanks for offering your input everyone.
I think the header image is a little large..,It almost cover half of the page and I could see fewer content...But the site looks great, its cool and very pleasant in reading...
It looks beautiful, if you can think to do some changes on your website then i will suggest to add Flash header at the top where the building designs shows in flash. Thankyou.