I can show you two examples:-
http://www.wickham43.net/fullheightdiv.php
where a div background extends full height
and items 16, 18 and 19 here which are more complicated (designed for pages without a sticky footer although you could add one):-
http://www.wickham43.net/firefoxbackground.php
and then there are "sticky footer" options with two main types:-
one where the footer is always visible and the content scrolls behind it if there is lots of content or it sticks to the bottom if there is little content (doesn't work in IE6), item 1a in link below
and another where the footer is either at the bottom of a page which has little content or sits below a page with lots of content and scrolls normally (so this is best for pages with not much content as it also works in IE6) item 1b in link below
http://www.wickham43.net/headerfooterfix.php
This example has a sticky footer type 1b which would stick to the bottom if there was much less content on the right, but combines a method of extending column backgrounds full height.
http://www.wickham43.net/backgroundsfullheight2col.html
Code downloaded to my PC will be deleted in due course.
WIN7; IE9, Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Safari for Windows; screen resolution usually 1366*768.
Also IE6 on W98 with 800*600 and IE8 on Vista 1440*900.