Questions for early stages of WordPress

Dear all

I am looking to implement WordPress into a website I have created for my girlfriend for her artwork.

I have created a very basic design portfolio website which she is happy with. It’s a single centred column design with three pages, a home page (which will be a blog), a gallery page (for her portfolio) and a contact page. I created it in Dreamweaver using the basic HTML / CSS that I have learnt.

All the WordPress installation guides I have read ask me to upload it via FTP to my web host. I don’t currently have it hosted as I would have liked to have it finished before I host it but it may not take long to upload the blank pages with the content needed once it’s online.

So my questions are these: Can I install WordPress locally and view / add to it via a browser or Dreamweaver? And, is it possible for me to easily add WordPress to my custom design without it ‘spilling over the edges’ or my simple design constraining it in any way?

I noticed there is a local host forum on here but was unable to find any clues as to whether I could achieve my first question.

Any feedback or advice would be appreciated. Thank you.