So arrange your home screen like this olds style ......
Then make it super blur I use the App Blur from Rudy's Lab, you have to blur it 2times manually. Then you will get something like this.
The good thing is that you use an accent color that matches your accent
Here is my fresh startscreen! And yes, that background is from that official 8.1 background thread It's amazing! That lock screen picture is my own photo.