1. Removed unnecessary guardfile

2. Separated Solarized color pack into a partial.
3. Changed up sass partial load order to support simple color and style overrides.

Guardfile

@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-guard 'livereload', :api_version => '1.6' do
-  watch(/public\/\S[css|js|html|png|jpg|gif]/)
-end

themes/classic/sass/default/_partials.scss

@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-//@import "partials/shared";
-//@import "partials/search";
-
-/* layout partials */
-@import "partials/header";
-@import "partials/navigation";
-@import "partials/page";
-@import "partials/sidebar";
-@import "partials/blog";
-@import "partials/footer";
-
-@import "partials/syntax";

themes/classic/sass/default/_style.scss

@@ -2,7 +2,18 @@
 @include reset-html5;
 
 @import "core/utilities";
+@import "partials/solarized";
+@import "custom/colors";
 @import "core/theme";
 @import "core/layout";
 @import "core/typography";
-@import "partials";
+
+/* layout partials */
+@import "partials/header";
+@import "partials/navigation";
+@import "partials/page";
+@import "partials/sidebar";
+@import "partials/blog";
+@import "partials/footer";
+@import "partials/syntax";
+@import "custom/styles";

themes/classic/sass/default/core/_layout.scss

@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ $sidebar-width-wide: 300px;
 
 .group { @include pie-clearfix; }
 
-//html {  }
 body {
   -webkit-text-size-adjust: none;
   max-width: 1350px;
@@ -42,7 +41,14 @@ body {
 }
 
 .toggle-sidebar { display: none; }
-#articles { width: 100%; + aside { display: none; } }
+#articles { width: 100%;
+  + aside {
+    float: none;
+    padding: 0 $pad-min 1px;
+    background-color: $sidebar-bg;
+    border-top: 1px solid $sidebar-border;
+  }
+}
 
 @media only screen and (min-width: 550px) {
   body > header { font-size: 1em; }
@@ -68,7 +74,7 @@ body {
     + aside {
       width: $sidebar-width-medium - $sidebar-pad-medium*2;
       padding: 0 $sidebar-pad-medium $sidebar-pad-medium;
-      display: block;
+      background: none;
       float: left;
       margin: 0 -100% 0 0;
     }
@@ -112,14 +118,14 @@ body {
 }
 
 @media only screen and (min-width: 992px) {
-  body > header {
-    font-size: 1.3em;
-  }
+  body > header { font-size: 1.3em; }
   body > nav + div > div { margin-right: $sidebar-width-wide; }
   #articles {
+    padding-top: $pad-wide/2;
+    padding-bottom: $pad-wide/2;
     + aside {
       width: $sidebar-width-wide - $sidebar-pad-wide*2;
-      padding: 0 $sidebar-pad-wide $sidebar-pad-wide;
+      padding: 1.2em $sidebar-pad-wide $sidebar-pad-wide;
     }
   }
 }

themes/classic/sass/default/core/_theme.scss

@@ -1,50 +1,54 @@
 // Main Link Colors
-$link-color: lighten(#165b94, 3);
-$link-color-hover: adjust-hue($link-color, -200);
-$link-color-visited: darken(adjust_hue($link_color, 70), 10);
-$link-color-active: darken($link-color-hover, 15);
+$link-color: lighten(#165b94, 3) !default;
+$link-color-hover: adjust-hue($link-color, -200) !default;
+$link-color-visited: darken(adjust_hue($link_color, 70), 10) !default;
+$link-color-active: darken($link-color-hover, 15) !default;
 
 // Main Section Colors
-$body-color: #333333;
-$light-text: #999999;
-$page-bg: #252525;
-$article-border: #eeeeee;
-$main-bg: #f5f5f5;
+$body-color: #333333 !default;
+$light-text: #999999 !default;
+$page-bg: #252525 !default;
+$article-border: #eeeeee !default;
+$main-bg: #f5f5f5 !default;
 
-$header-bg: #333;
-$header-border: lighten($header-bg, 15);
-$title-color: #f2f2f2;
-$subtitle-color: #aaa;
+$header-bg: #333 !default;
+$header-border: lighten($header-bg, 15) !default;
+$title-color: #f2f2f2 !default;
+$subtitle-color: #aaa !default;
 
-$type-border: #ddd;
-$type-color-light: #555;
-$type-color: #222;
+$type-color: #222 !default;
+$type-color-light: #555 !default;
+$type-border: #ddd !default;
 
-$nav-bg: #ccc;
-$nav-color: darken($nav-bg, 38);
+
+/* Navigation */
+$nav-bg: #ccc !default;
+$nav-color: darken($nav-bg, 38) !default;
 $nav-color-hover: darken($nav-color, 25);
+$nav-placeholder: desaturate(darken($nav-bg, 10), 15);
 $nav-border: darken($nav-bg, 10);
 $nav-border-top: lighten($nav-bg, 15);
 $nav-border-bottom: darken($nav-bg, 25);
 $nav-border-left: darken($nav-bg, 11);
 $nav-border-right: lighten($nav-bg, 7);
 
-$sidebar-bg: #eee;
-$sidebar-color: change-color(mix($type-color, $sidebar-bg, 80), $hue: hue($sidebar-bg), $saturation: saturation($sidebar-bg)/2);
+/* Sidebar colors */
+$sidebar-bg: #eee !default;
+$sidebar-link-color: $link-color !default;
+$sidebar-link-color-hover: $link-color-hover !default;
+$sidebar-color: change-color(mix($type-color, $sidebar-bg, 80), $hue: hue($sidebar-bg), $saturation: saturation($sidebar-bg)/2) !default;
 $sidebar-border: desaturate(darken($sidebar-bg, 7), 10);
 $sidebar-border: darken($sidebar-bg, 7);
-$sidebar-link-color: $link-color;
-$sidebar-link-color-hover: $link-color-hover;
 $sidebar-link-color-subdued: lighten($sidebar-color, 20);
-$sidebar-link-color-subdued-hover: $link-color-hover;//darken($sidebar-link-color-subdued, 20);
+$sidebar-link-color-subdued-hover: $sidebar-link-color-hover;
 $twitter-status-link: lighten($sidebar-link-color-subdued, 15);
 
-$footer-color: #999999;
-$footer-bg: #ccc;
+$footer-color: #999999 !default;
+$footer-bg: #ccc !default;
 $footer-color: darken($footer-bg, 38);
 $footer-color-hover: darken($footer-color, 10);
-$footer-placeholder: desaturate(darken($footer-bg, 10), 15);
 $footer-border-top: lighten($footer-bg, 15);
+$footer-border-bottom: darken($footer-bg, 15);
 $footer-link-color: darken($footer-bg, 38);
 $footer-link-color-hover: darken($footer-color, 25);
 $page-border-bottom: darken($footer-bg, 5);

themes/classic/sass/default/custom/_colors.scss

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+// Here you can easily change your sites's color scheme.
+// To give it a try, uncomment some of the lines below rebuild your blog, and see how it works.
+
+//$header-bg: #263347;
+//$subtitle-color: lighten($header-bg, 58);
+//$nav-bg: desaturate(lighten(#8fc17a, 18), 5);
+//$sidebar-bg: desaturate(#eceff5, 8);
+//$sidebar-link-color: saturate(#526f9a, 10);
+//$sidebar-link-color-hover: darken(#7ab662, 9);
+
+
+//To use the light Solarized highlighting theme uncomment this block
+/*
+$base03: $base3;
+$base02: $base2;
+$base01: $base1;
+$base00: $base0;
+$base0: $base00;
+$base1: $base01;
+$base2: $base02;
+$base3: $base03;
+*/

themes/classic/sass/default/custom/_styles.scss

@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+// This File is imported last, and will override other styles in the cascade
+// Add styles here to make changes without digging in too much

themes/classic/sass/default/partials/_solarized.scss

@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+$base03:    #002b36; //darkest blue
+$base02:    #073642; //dark blue
+$base01:    #586e75; //darkest gray
+$base00:    #657b83; //dark gray
+$base0:     #839496; //medium gray
+$base1:     #93a1a1; //medium light gray
+$base2:     #eee8d5; //cream
+$base3:     #fdf6e3; //white
+$yellow:    #b58900;
+$orange:    #cb4b16;
+$red:       #dc322f;
+$magenta:   #d33682;
+$violet:    #6c71c4;
+$blue:      #268bd2;
+$cyan:      #2aa198;
+$green:     #859900;

themes/classic/sass/default/partials/_syntax.scss

@@ -1,30 +1,3 @@
-$base03:    #002b36; //darkest blue
-$base02:    #073642; //dark blue
-$base01:    #586e75; //darkest gray
-$base00:    #657b83; //dark gray
-$base0:     #839496; //medium gray
-$base1:     #93a1a1; //medium light gray
-$base2:     #eee8d5; //cream
-$base3:     #fdf6e3; //white
-$yellow:    #b58900;
-$orange:    #cb4b16;
-$red:       #dc322f;
-$magenta:   #d33682;
-$violet:    #6c71c4;
-$blue:      #268bd2;
-$cyan:      #2aa198;
-$green:     #859900;
-
-// If you prefer light colors, uncomment the following block to change themes
-//$base03: $base3;
-//$base02: $base2;
-//$base01: $base1;
-//$base00: $base0;
-//$base0: $base00;
-//$base1: $base01;
-//$base2: $base02;
-//$base3: $base03;
-
 .highlight, html .gist .gist-file .gist-syntax .gist-highlight {
   .line-numbers {
     text-align: right;