Is your problem not knowing what it is you want to create (or, what an "updated" version of that design would be), or do you not have the skill set to develop what it is you want to create? Or both?
Someone on this thread recommended a book called Design Elements, and it's great and just what I needed actually.
Once you read that, then I would suggest to start reading some well known web magazines, maybe like Smashing or VecTuts/PSDTuts to go through some tutorials and help you understand just how people use noise on a button, or a drop shadow on a button, etc. Then again, I think these things are sometimes over the top and used because it's trendy. But, you can make your own decisions.
A lot of people just use Photoshop patterns made by someone else for those background images (http://patterns.ava7.com/tag-beige.php,http://designm.ag/res...). Find a pattern, fill > pattern, tada!