This won't help to fix configuration that's already broken, but if you wanted to experiment with different desktop environments and not overwrite your base configuration (in your home folder) have you considered creating a separate user to use with other desktop environments? That way you don't risk overwriting your current dragonized config in your home folder. This way, if something is broke, you can restart into your original user and go change any config you need in the other users home directory.
I've been thinking about doing this too, mostly because I wanted to try out xmonad and maybe a couple other tiling window managers.