OK, To change the admin defaults you have to edit the lib/gentools.pl files. "sub adminhtml" and "sub emailhtml" have the color for the left hand column. These subs have some logic I don't quite understand so I changed both choices (to maroon). The problem with changing the lib/gentools.pl subs is that those changes will be global among the rings (if you have more than one). However, the ring pages including ring admin use the colors from: Ringadmin/customization/appearance. The left hand column color is not a choice and uses the general default. Where these are choices they override the other defaults in the gentools.pl file.