Good way of thinking. I like it. well, there is not so much alternatives to e4,d4 but even with these two you can still deviate early. Maybe as a black 1...b6, or even 1...a6 2....b5 may be worth trying. Also there is 1....Sc6 which I used to try long time ago. However in any scenario, you must be ready that your oponent may control the center early (since you did not by avoiding moving central pawns) and you ll have to fing way how to fight against. Recomend 1. b3 as a white, which has theoretical line too, but still you may play lots of alternative ways and confuse black early. Check Larsen and Stein games for reference. There is also Master in Croatia, Bobanac, he plays this whole life with lots of creative positions, check for these in databases...
non-traditional (e4, d4) openings as beginner?
As long it's not something incredibly dumb and counter intuitive, I suppose it's fine. Though you should really have a response to both e4 and d4.
One of the benefits of playing 1.e4 is that you'll gain experience with a variety of structures. There is the Sicilian, the Open Games, the French, the Caro-Kann, the Scandi, and the Pirc/Modern complex. Each of these openings enjoys some degree of popularity and features unique structures. By contrast, if you play 1.f4 exclusively, there are only two types of possible structures; Black will either play ...d5 or aim for a quick ...e5.
Of course, a 1.e4 repertoire requires more maintenance than a repertoire based on irregular openings like 1.f4. But the extra work will pay off, in the form of positional knowledge.
Chess Openings Resources for Beginners and Beyond...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/openings-resources-for-beginners-and-beyond
I am a beginning player (well, not really a starter as I learned the chess moves about 30 years ago, but only recently started to play regularly online).
I am trying to improve (who isn't...), doing puzzles, playing dailies and not just blitz etc. Trying to read a bit as well, but don't have time to study thoroughly.
As for openings, I often play Bird as white, Alekhine against and whatever against 1.d4. (basically, Nf6 is very often my first move as black, no matter what white's move was) :-)
I even consider playing the Polish opening in the future.
Now, playing these rather nontraditional openings (unlike e4-e5 or d4-d5), I think it helps me to some extent, even as a beginner:
* the game really starts very early and not after a series of theoretical moves I and my opponent learned by heart (or at least I am too unaware to see all the theory behind it). In other words, I start having fun earlier in the game as I like lively games.
* by not just focusing traditionally on the centre, I've learned to more often consider the whole board and suffer less blunders because of overlooking some long diagonal. In other words, I tend to look at 64 squares (or perhaps 48, because the a and h file are still overlooked every now and then) instead of 4 (so to speak, of course)
* every now and then I get to outplay an opponent that could not just rely on his theoretical knowledge.
Now, being aware of my very modest level, does this make sense according to higher rated players, or do you think I am just hampering my own development as a chess player?