How do I customize elgg to look similar to the community.elgg.org page?

Hello,

 I'm very new with elgg and so far I like it because it has a lot of potential. I have been reading the docs which I find very helpful but for practice, I would like to try making my elgg look similar to http://community.elgg.org/

After successfully installing elgg, I find the interface a bit too simple... and what I would like to do is place some widgets like the login box at the upper right hand corner, a message at the upper left center, and then a bunch of boxes just like what I see in  community.elgg.org page. Can someone please teach me or guide me on how to do this?

I see a lot good themes out there but just for practice, I would like to be able to customize from the core.

Thanks for reading.