Center Column on "Page" Pages - multiple columns within/floating images?

I've been working on my site for a couple of weeks now and have hit a few stumbling blocks that I haven't found answers to in the forum.

I fear I may have approached this incorrectly from the beginning, but the problems I'm running into now include:

1. Pages in IE are cutting off the top portion of the center column text (where I removed the header image, made the space the same bg color as the body and pushed up the text margin to overlap it).

2. I'd like to be able to have multiple columns within the center column on all my "page" pages - like this . I've tried adding a right sidebar widget (samsarin), but that doesn't seem like the right approach (no ability to format text to match center column contents, different content for each page)

3. I would like to be able to "float" images to one side of the text on other pages

4. Any recommendations for a simple, but flexible image gallery plugin would be appreciated as well.

I apologize if these are rookie questions, but I have been combing through the forum and haven't found pertinent answers. Any help / tips would be immensely appreciated.

Thank you,

Seb.