customized layout

[CruiserCommando]

Hello, my name is Bryan and I am currently designing a forum that will be a community specifically for the exchange of information about Toyota Land Cruisers. The forum is meant to work in conjunction with our business website and as such will be used not only for discussion, but for pictures, videos, news, and classifieds. There are a few things I am trying to figure out in terms of how to design the home page in a specific way, but I am having a hard time doing so. there is a current forum website http://67-72chevytrucks.com/ that has a lay-out fairly similar to what we are after. Specifically, I would really like to find out how to create a sidebar menu that has the lists of various forums as well as links to our various associated business homepages. I would also like to get rid of the current layout structure that has the list of forums in the center of the homepage and replace it with an intro paragraph and then a news feed. I have gone through many different pre-made styles and have yet to find one that has such a lay-out. I'm assuming I should be able to make these specific changes to the current style I have. I by no means am asking someone to take me step-by-step, but I would be eternally grateful if someone could point me towards the right information/resources to do so. Thank you for your time and input!