The easyest way to customise you display of your ToolStrip, MainMenu and StatusBar is to use a custom ColorTable.
I have recently started using the patterns & practices Composite UI Application Block, and I have been finding it quite useful. It is very limiting in UI functionality, but as a framework it grately simplifies building complicated Forms applications. My first article, no, it does not say "Hello, World", but it migh as well...