I added an Image Space and Lighting Template to my cell and while the basic color scheme is OK it is way too smokey. It looks like someone blocked the chimney.

My problem is I have a hard time with changing the settings. With my cell selected the options are greyed out. It takes a lot of fiddling and random chance before I can both see my cell and make changes. I don't really know what I'm doing.

Also I don't know what the settings actually do. I wish someone would write a tutorial with a written description of what each of the settings does. In the meanwhile how do I decrease the smoke? And if I make changes does that just affect my cell or the template itself? For other things if you make a change you get a popup saying you've changed something and do you want to make a new ID with a space for the new name. Doesn't seem to happen with lighting. I'm totally confused. It looked better with out the Image Space and I'm not sure how to get rid of it even.

Ok I have the Lighting Template and Image Space saying "Default" and "None" when I right click and edit cell but It is still smokey and brown. Did I somehow chang the default settings? Help. I totally messed up my cell.

It sounds like you have changed the fog settings for the cell. Got to a similar cell and check the settings for its foggyness (is that even a word???).

Also, I was confused messing with the lighting for a while before I realised I had the toggle lights on in the Creation Kit so I could not see my changes...

Make sure lighting is on (Toggled with A), Sky is on (Toggled with 6) and if the options are greyed out, uncheck the corresponding box at the top of the lighting tab of the cell window. (If you need to change the ambient lighting, uncheck Ambient Color, etc)

Then click apply and any changes you've made should appear in the render window if the cell is loaded.