Help with Changing Article backgrounds

[Silent_Stam]

Hey All,

I'm looking at trying to modify some of the elements on the CMS page and in the Forums, but, I'm running in to a Few issues.

Currently, I've dug through all the stylevars, and the CMS guides but all of them seem to skip the 2 items I'd like to mod (at a minimum for starters). I'm going to assume this is doable - but not through the stylevars.

So, for Starters - We'd Like to do the following:
Set Common > Body_Background to a Color
Set The Displayed Articles, on the Main pages, (and when Clicked on) to not be transparent (I've set an example below).
Ideally, we can then have the Articles posted with a different color font BG to make them easier to read if we use a sharp contrasted Color.

I've Attached an image with Both Changes that we'd like to modify - can someone comment on the ability to do so?

If you'd like a full look at the page you can do so Here

Thanks!
-Chris