Changing Blog Layout

Hey Everyone,

really love the vantage theme so far!
One of my issues though is, that to my mind the blog layout for the posts isn’t too nice. The featured image for the post is either too big or too small.

Right now the layout looks something like this:
http://cl.ly/image/2S27103V2L1P/Screen%20Shot%202015-02-17%20at%2000.23.25.png

The layout would like to have would be something like this: ( Screenshot taken from www.fstoppers.com)
http://cl.ly/image/0g1B2T1c3N0G/Screen%20Shot%202015-02-17%20at%2000.18.21.png

On the second example the image is bigger and also integrates with the text better.
Is there any chance for me to get close to this layout (Headline on top and then featured image and content side by side under it)

Another question I would like to ask: is there any way to change the standard layout for the read more button ? I would like to just display a “More….” link

Thank You,
Arne Bornheim