Update on my progress. After much scratching (about 7 hours all told):

I have got Zen Cart running on my mac.
I have created my own template folder with a new template_info.php
I think I have created a new template set. At least I followed the instructions. Problem is there are no templates in my new templates folder

So I'm stuck here. I'm not sure what I should do now so that I can build my own site. I was under the impression that at this stage I might be able to hack away at some template and remove all the files I don't want or edit the CSS in some way. Can't figure out how to do that.

I tried pointing my browser at index.php but I just get a blank page which I half expect seeing as I haven't actually done anything that would update it from its virgin state and that is confirmed when I open it in Dreamweaver. I'm floundering in the dark now.

Could someone point me in the right direction. If anyone is that interested, the site is up at glampamtextiles.co.uk in the form of a portfolio of work and my client wants to make it an ecommerce site. So that should give at least some idea of what I'm trying to build.