I starting using OP with version 1.6, but had issues in the upgrade process from 1.6 > 1.7 > 1.7.1, so I decided to essentially rebuild the site off of OP 2.3. (You can visit the redesign at www.scvbj.com)
OP provides a great framework from which to build a news site and the basic design elements are clean and non-obtrusive. It has really provided an excellent starting point.
I used Superfish menus instead of the built-in OP 2-tiered menus (I like this style much better). Also, Superfish provides unique classes for each menu item, so there is more flexibility in styling.
I tweaked the layout of the frontpage some. I created another region at the upper left-side of the page and by using mini-panels, added a Dynamic Display block and a vertical carousel.
I played with Panels a little more this time around and really like how it allowed me to create both my Chamber of Commerce and Valley Industrial Association pages using a single panels template. This template was built using a taxonomy argument in views, so when users click on the "SCV Chamber of Commerce" or "Valley Industrial Association" taxonomies they are taken to these special pages, instead of the standard taxonomy listing pages... very sweet.
Thank you Phase II for your continual work on this distribution.