Can't change content only width – sidebar also moving :(

First ever posting!

To put my problem in context, I have managed to remove the side bar from all pages except the homepage, but was left with a ‘gap’ where the sidebar was.

I found the code in my main stylesheet (style.css)
and changed a line under #content>li to be width:85%;}
and solved this problem.

However now I have an issue in that this change has extended the
content area on my homepage, forcing the sidebar above the main content area.

I tried adding this:

.page-id-8 #content {
width: 55%;
}

(page 8 being my homepage)
as detailed at here:

http://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-the-content-width-of-a-single-page

But this change somehow alters the WHOLE area that the content AND sidebar live in (i.e it does not just change the content area ONLY on the homepage)

Looking at the homepage will be clearer. I basically want to change the width of the content ‘welcome text’ on the left to say 40% and leave the sidebar on the right.

I have spend 3 hours today trying to fix this!