What makes my desktop shine?
Well lemme see...
Custom start bar (think StyleXP, but not quite ), random wallpapers, custom icons for pretty much everything on my desktop with a 'Quick Access' folder for most shortcuts to avoid clutter, random screen savers, matching media player skins (even if I have to make them myself...), custom mouse cursors and that little bit of love...

Another thing I do is purposely try to download a smaller resolution desktop wallpaper and then centre it whilst finding a suitable colour background to frame it. Doing this ensures no icons over the wallpaper. ^^

But yes, I do use my laptop enough for me to want it to shine...
Regardless of the effort that could entail.