It was a npm permission installation issues with node-sass... had to perform an npm audit fix with --unsafe-perm. my problem is solved. 

I tried adjusting the sidebar color per the customization instructions, but when I run npm install I'm seeing what happens in Screen1. Screen2 is what the front end looks like. I'm running node 10.11.0 and npm 6.4.1 on a Ubuntu 16 LTS box. Seems to be an issue with node-sass but I'm not sure what. Any ideas to help me along?