How to edit the upper body and footer home page like this

[newbieforlife]

Hi everyone,

I am trying to customize the default template I installed as a start. I admire a forum http://www.nintendolounge.com/index.php and I want to know how to edit the upper side and footer of the homepage like this. I want to remove everything on the upper side and make it look so simple and nice like the one I gave you above.

Please check my signature and help me out, if you can. That is way above my capacity..

Thanks in advance!