Need Help Choosing a Theme

You are on the right track going with a framework. Catalyst theme is an excellent framework but it does have a learning curb as does most frameworks. I have all the major frameworks and headway has the easiest learning curb imo. This is a drag and drop framework so setting up your website structure is not that difficult.

you can try Joomla Templates, WordPress Themes, Magento Templates and phpBB3 Styles - RocketTheme some of my client used this, easy to use and customizable too.. good luck!

I'd agree that going with a framework is a good idea. I do a lot of work personally with Standard Theme and Genesis. It all depends on how comfortable you are with getting under the hood.

BOTH companies provide stellar support and I recommend them highly.

If you do not know any coding techniques it best to buy a WordPress theme. Free themes usually do not provide enough options and settings for users who do not have experience in web design. A good idea is to find a WordPress site that you like and then you see what theme use. To find out which WordPress theme is in the site you can use this tool at adress whatwpthemeisthat.com

I do all my client work from Themeforest themes. I've found they're the best overall value. If you're worried about abondonment, just find a theme that has a high purchase rate from established, popular authors. It's stupid simple. A lot of authors are also noted as "Elite Authors" because of the popularity of their themes.
why do I choose Themeforest?
1) Every theme comes with layered, organized PSDs. This is uber important. You can have someone easily make adjustments for you with a well organized, layered PSD. Template Monster's PSDs are navigation nightmares, with some PSD layers flattened when they shouldn't be, making separating elements for editing all but impossible.
2) The themes look incredible compared to others on the market. Look at the themes on Themeforest and then look at the themes on Elegant Themes and Woothemes. Those others look very generic by comparison. This is on purpose. Most WordPress shops develop functional, yet bland themes as development bases for designers and coders to build on, so they anticipate a lot of changes and don't build the most beautiful themes, leaving it up to the end designer to do what they want. You're not in that demographic though. You want something that is as close to your vision as possible, while allowing you to edit it as needed. Themeforest is the answer.
3) Unlimited downloads! I cannot stress this enough! I live an unlimited, hosted life in everything I do. Steam hosts my games and I can download them any time to any PC; Dropbox shares my files on all of my PCs for unlimited access; I stream unlimited tunes online via Grooveshark and Pandora. Doesn't it make sense that once you've paid for the theme you should be able to download it at any time in the future, from anywhere??
It's insanely convenient.
4) User friendly back end and admin panels, WordPress themes especially. I'm not going to lie- and new theme you're going to need to familiarize yourself with the back end. However, they are often very easy, very simple to use, bug many are very flexible. The best themes have detailed documentation that explains their interface, and the admins are easier to use than the stock WordPress one.
Sent from my phone. Please forgive typos.

Catalyst is a really good theme if you can afford it. For some of the best free premium themes check out Best Free Premium Wordpress Themes | CashJournals of DylanC

I don't think you'd find such an animal... Customizing, generally, means getting under the hood and knowing something about the code.