I am happy to do the CSS. I'm doing an extensive Child of "A Daring Inspiration Theme", which I picked because it is far from "daring" ;) I am augmenting it with bits of "2010" ... so I keep files of both open in Notepad++, side-by-side. In the past, I preferred "Sandbox", but worried it might not be updated.
I am really a construction laborer, but I use W3(C) and others, have long dabbled at CSS, shifted to semantic layouts ... I just don't spend enough time in code to know where things are. If this position CSS you mention is ok to change, telling me where to find it should be my 'break'.
I did see "faux columns", searching Google with 'full height sidebar' etc. I've considered this approach ... but if CSS positioning editing can be done, that's what I'd like. Thx!