Seeking help for modified marinelli theme with much smaller images and sidebars that extend to logo area

Issue Summary

I have been trying to make a marinelli bas'ed theme or subtheme that has a much smaller banner area that is "inside" the left and right columns - or at the top of the content area. I cannot get it to work properly - do you have any interest in offering this kind of option? Or can you ofer any advice on how to modify the marinelli theme to give this desired effect?

For many websites the marinelli banners are simply too wide and sometimes also slow loading due to their size. Furthermore, having one or two columns going all the way up to the logo area (or main title area) would really give a website much more space to display important information above the fold. I realize that it would be a little complicated - as there would have to be two options for 1 sidebar column or 2 sidebar columns; with different size deault images for each option, etc ...

Thanks for a response.