Here was a link that helped me solve a big problem of how to change the background colour and other properties for a JOptionPane in Swing. Here it is for future reference: Pluggable look And Feel:
The code looked something like:

UIManager.put("OptionPane.background", new javax.swing.plaf.ColorUIResource(cBack));

UIManager.put("Panel.background", new javax.swing.plaf.ColorUIResource(cBack));

UIManager.put("Panel.background", new javax.swing.plaf.FontUIResource(fLabel));

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