I actually solved both issues. It looks like my theme’s css was overriding anything I tried to do in these areas, so I added !important; to each css bit, like this to change the wrapper text color –
.dataTables_wrapper .dataTables_info {
color: #D7B67C !important;
}
and this to change the box color –
input[type="search"],
textarea,
select {
background-color: #c3c0bb !important;
}
Issue is solved.