Design versus "skinning"

Hi all,

I’ve just looked at WP. Installed it, tried to edit the theme…and remembered another reason I chose a different CMS six years ago.

I don’t give a rip about “skinning” and being able to change skins at the drop of a hat. I know what design I want, I have the code, I know how to edit the CSS and XHTML. All I need to know is how to place whatever-it-is that calls the entry text, the previous/next links…and so forth.

Is design like this possible with WP?