Developers: Need Help Positioning Products on index.php

[gh0s7]

I have been searching this topic for a week. I have installed sts, created a test theme to make sure i can do what i want to do with css, and get it to look how i want it to look. I am a developer, both web and application. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to move the product images on the index page the way that i want them. In the template they are layed out exact, but then, since it is a global template the images are spread throughout the whole site. What im wondering is where or how can i take the product table that i created, add it to the main page with the product images from the $content$ command and have them split into t each cell in the table? Or maybe a better question is, where is the $content variable called from? I read something about it is called from the page that is using it which doesnt make sense, so if someone has searched this topic and found something, please point me in the right direction. Basically i want the images 2 in a row, and 2 in a column only displaying 4 images. I also want them product info wrapped(eg.. Listing name above the image, How much it is on the right of the image)

<table id='prod_table1'><tr><td>Product Name</td><td></td><td>Product Name</td></tr><tr><td id='product_row1'></td><td id='prod_row1_info'>Reg Price: $10<br />Discount: 40%<br />Save: $10<br />25 Sold<br />75 Remain<br />Website<br /><a href=''>Site Address</a></td><td id='product_row2'></td><td id='prod_row2_info'>Reg Price: $10<br />Discount: 40%<br />Save: $10<br />25 Sold<br />75 Remain<br />Website<br /><a href=''>Site Address</a></td></tr></table>

With the second table below it, with the next set of products in it.