Changing sections' heights

I was trying to change the height of “Our focus” section. I used the code mentioned on this support forum before:

.focus {
padding-bottom: 100px;
overflow: hidden;
background: #FFFFFF;
height: 700px;
}

But when I do, it only changes the height from below the widgets. So it leaves the white space above the widgets untouched, but lowers the height only from below. How can I change the height from both sides?

And does it work the same way also for the “news” carousel and the “about us” section?