andrewwinkler Hi
You can always refer to documentation for building homepage replica of demo site as seen here Also, The module settings for the same are given thereon
It is always suggested to install and deploy quickstart package which gives you replica of demo site either on the main site or sub-directory for reference as the same explicitly sets the right path for further reviewing, configurations, customizations e.t.c
You can probably have similar appearance for "Latest news" module as seen for K2 content module, however, not exactly same as content appearence also varies which can be done by employing module class suffix technique
