Have you looked at the free templates available from the Add Ons link - http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=40_53.

Find a template that is 80% of the way there in what you are looking for. You'll find it is much easier to customise from there than starting from scratch customising a store based on the Classic template.

To see most of the templates in action without needing to install them - have a look at this site: http://(sorry, site offline)/

Hope this helps,
K