Whenever I was using the stock launcher, I would force myself to either use one home screen period, or one with app icons, one with widgets. Mixing is just... Ugh...

I switched to Niagara Launcher recently and it's absolutely fantastic for productivity. There's no distinction between the app launcher and the home screen. The launcher has the time at the top, date/weather under, daily calendar events under, ONE widget space (optional) and a list of apps you set as favorites. After that, on the right edge of the screen is the alphabet which you can scroll through with your thumb to see all your apps. You can find any app in a second. Not free though, but worth it just for the time saved.