htaccess static homepage problems

Hi,

I’m using wordpress (2.7.1 updated from 2.6) as a CMS for a portfolio site rather than a blog. Which means the home page has been changed to static not blog in the admin.

To get the site working with my hosting company I was given these instructions regarding htaccess.

Upload file as; htaccess.txt
into public_html
rename as .htaccess

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/wordpress/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /wordpress/$1 [R]

The problem is, if I go to my site:
the site appears and all the navigation works fine, apart from going back to the home (via the home button) where this message appears:

NOT FOUND
The requested URL /wordpress/wordpress was not found on this server.

I’ve tested another site and the same thing happens. With a blog as homepage there’s no problem, but a static homepage won’t work. Do I need to adapt the htaccess file to compensate for using a static homepage.

I’m new to wordpress but so far I’ve managed to sort out any problems I’ve encountered. My background is graphic design HTML and CSS. My php is so far limited to a VERY BASIC understanding, so PLEASE presume I’m a beginner.

Your help is much appreciated.

Rusty