header_welcomeblock; arranging text elements

[500bees]

so,

i am working to slowly morph the default theme into something resembling php themes of the 00s. this is how my header_welcomeblock_member currently looks;



and this is the inspiration for how i'd like it to look ;



i want to;

change font to Times New Roman ( but post contents and forums descriptions should still use the default one ) ,
remove the icons, 
remove the "Welcome back" text but keep the currently logged in username, 
move the Enhanced Account Switcher dropdown menu,
remove the "last visited" text, 
move the User CP, Mod CP and Admin CP elements,
remove the Search bar and replace it with the PMs link,

then, below that;

on the right, have the Search redirect button, View New Posts, View Today's Posts and another redirect link ( later, i'll figure out how to list threads with no replies made in specific forums ).

essentially, this is my vision ( although i'll eventually change the colors );




this is how my header_welcomeblock_member template looks;

<!-- Continuation of div(class="upper") as opened in the header template -->
	<span class="welcome">( {$lang->welcome_back} | <a href="{$mybb->settings['bburl']}/member.php?action=logout&amp;logoutkey={$mybb->user['logoutkey']}" class="logout">{$lang->welcome_logout}</a> ) </span>
	</div>
</div>
<div class="lower">
	<div class="wrapper">
		<ul class="menu panel_links">
			 {$usercplink}
			{$modcplink}
			{$admincplink} 
		</ul>
		<ul class="menu user_links">
			{$buddylink}
			{$searchlink}
			{$pmslink}<!-- AccountSwitcher -->{$as_header}<!-- /AccountSwitcher -->
		</ul>
	</div>
	<br class="clear" />
</div>

any and all advice is appreciated! even if you can only advise me on one of the things listed, i'll be grateful for it, as i have no experience with mybb.