Custom templates?

Hi there,

I’m a competent responsive front end developer but am new to WordPress. I’m using the Unite theme successfully to build a shop and so far, am very impressed generally with the features.

I’d like to customise my home page but am not finding it straightforward to achieve what I want. I already have my carousel working successfully at the top of the shop (underneath the menu bar), but I would now like to add 2 rows underneath it, each split into 4 columns. I’ve added the Easy Bootstrap Shortcodes plug in, but can not see a way of adding these additional 2 rows of 4 columns to the home page.

I’m more than happy to hardcode a template. I’m thinking if I duplicate the index.php and give it a template name, I could add the following code in order to achieve what I want – however, I’m unsure how to turn this into a usable template:

<div class="row ">
		<div class="col-lg-3 col-md-6 col-xs-12 col-sm-12"><p></p>
			<h4>1/4</h4>
			<p>Curabitur mollis sodales nibh a dapibus. Morbi vel congue nisi. Nunc sed sem euismod, consectetur nisl viverra, tempor risus. Aliquam id dui in purus fringilla posuere. Maecenas pretium risus sit amet vestibulum iaculis. Sed a sodales velit. Integer nec ante aliquam tellus dapibus vestibulum. In tincidunt mattis eros.</p>
		</div>
		<div class="col-lg-3 col-md-6 col-xs-12 col-sm-12"><p></p>
			<h4>1/4</h4>
			<p>Curabitur mollis sodales nibh a dapibus. Morbi vel congue nisi. Nunc sed sem euismod, consectetur nisl viverra, tempor risus. Aliquam id dui in purus fringilla posuere. Maecenas pretium risus sit amet vestibulum iaculis. Sed a sodales velit. Integer nec ante aliquam tellus dapibus vestibulum. In tincidunt mattis eros.</p>
		</div>
		<div class="col-lg-3 col-md-6 col-xs-12 col-sm-12"><p></p>
			<h4>1/4</h4>
			<p>Curabitur mollis sodales nibh a dapibus. Morbi vel congue nisi. Nunc sed sem euismod, consectetur nisl viverra, tempor risus. Aliquam id dui in purus fringilla posuere. Maecenas pretium risus sit amet vestibulum iaculis. Sed a sodales velit. Integer nec ante aliquam tellus dapibus vestibulum. In tincidunt mattis eros.</p>
		</div>
		<div class="col-lg-3 col-md-6 col-xs-12 col-sm-12"><p></p>
			<h4>1/4</h4>
			<p>Curabitur mollis sodales nibh a dapibus. Morbi vel congue nisi. Nunc sed sem euismod, consectetur nisl viverra, tempor risus. Aliquam id dui in purus fringilla posuere. Maecenas pretium risus sit amet vestibulum iaculis. Sed a sodales velit. Integer nec ante aliquam tellus dapibus vestibulum. In tincidunt mattis eros.</p>
		</div>
	</div>

Can anyone advise the best route forward for me to create column templates that I can use successfully for something other than product.

Many thanks