SOLVED! It took me a while to get a clear picture of how these fantastic plugins integrate with each other.
Using Lightweight Grid Columns, I simulated sidebars by inserting a category list or other shortcode into a column. Here’s what I did:
Section 1: full width background image, darkened with background color, text color white.
Section 2: 20& wide column with shortcode (I created a list of links using Max Mega Menu)
80% wide column with text content
This was for home page only. Posts have a traditional sidebar where I customize each post by inserting certain widgets as needed using Dynamic Widgets.