Stupid HTML

I spent the better part of 2 days trying to change my blog, but I have no idea how to keep my widgets when I change the layout. So I've been browsing the web and I have found how to change the column size (sorta) and the background and the header (good to know!!). But not how to change the color of the columns (because I hate a white background) or how to use a premade blogger layout (from somewhere like pyzam) without losing all of my links. Grrrrr

Can anyone out there help me?