Can you add changable colors like what was in Xbox Extended? Still using Xbox Extended so that I can have blue tiles and accents and such.

I will be (hopefully) getting an original Xbox soon, how relatively easy is it to install a 40GB IDE hard drive, softmod, and install XMBC? I see a guide online for softmodding, not sure about installing XBMC. I repair computers as a hobby, so I don't imagine it being too hard to install an IDE hard...