I figured it out. The way to do it inline (which I was trying to avoid) is the add to the <div style = ...> line. I used
Code:
<div style="padding:5px;background:#E9E9E9;">
which worked great. I wish I could have added something to additional.css and done it that way but in the end it works, so for others' future reference this is how you can change the color.
Thanks Ted for your mod support.