Simple:
Have a pretty background. I remember the beta site image, and I actually quite liked it. Now whether or not we could make it look good and still implement the stuff below, that's up to whether or not Nayleen can channel his inner jesus.
So what do we need on the front page?
A very prominent link to the forums. Duh. I actually get to the forums by going to Fuwanovel.net and pressing the small button in the upper right corner. I've done that for years, and when this change does go through, I will obviously be confused for a little bit.
Twitter/Facebook Feeds. Also somewhat important.
Fuwazette/Fuwareview Integration. This is obviously the biggest change. Really what we should be doing is changing the front page to provide a screenshot of the day's happenings. The site is primarily split into three sections: Forums, Fuwazette, Fuwareviews. The Three F's. And being able to see those three things at a glance needs to be the primary purpose. Honestly we could cut the feeds out and just prioritize these three things and be perfectly fine.
A walkthroughs link? This might be a QOL thing for some people, but I personally don't have any use for it. Can't speak for others, as it appears to be a popular section overall.
Removal of literally everything else.
A layout where every major section gets a cute little box with a border with VN characters/waifus would fulfill the cute requirement. Or you could adopt a much sleeker look and do shadowboxes for each section. Ultimately you want to make it fit on a 1024 x 768 screen without having to scroll. Mobile/Tablet layouts would obviously have to look different, but duh.