Hi There
Yes it is fairly simple to get the look that you want.
I would say go with the CMS and learn coding on the side to help you change things the way you like it once you have a bit of coding knowledge it starts to get really fun playing around with the theme settings.
It is also faster to get your websites going I also would endorse Wordpress there is a plugin for almost everything.
have a look at my 6th website design in a year and a half I and it is amazing how quickly you can do cool stuff too.
I would also suggest going onto youtube and following the build a wordpress website in 1 hour tutorials as the teach you a lot of the basics.
Hope this answers your question.
Hope this helps.