To avoid really flat background I changed that to a very subtle brown. Please have a look and let me know what you think. I'm sure you'll find it much better.
I changed the colour from more pinky to more redish ;) I also reduced the amount of it. Please let me know if this looks better, if not I will play with the primary hover color.
Feedback from using the site during content writing:
/projects/<project name>
to avoid name clashes with the main content