Issues with using the colored section

Hello,
I have a really specific issue and i’ve been trying for days to remedy it, I am driving myself mad. I am sure you’ll have a simple quick solution and have it fixed in moments. I am using the page editor and using a colored section but then the problem is the color is the background for the whole page and won’t allow me to make the columns inside it a white background. In effect I’d like to make the colored section like a border around a column with all my content over a white background. – make sense? I have been using firebug to isolate the class and then adding css to change the background but nothing is happening, I have tired every class i can find to change the background color on the column in side the color section.

I know if might be hard to understand what I am saying but Please help !