Im looking to change the colour of my inventory to this - http://www.playground.ru/images/files/8/2/48.jpg

but without having to install DarUI to make it happen, is there a simple mod that simply changes the vanilla UI to something like the above pic?

Yeah. DarkUI. Or is that Morrowind? Search Nexus category "User Interface". There are color options other than that redish, like blue, wood, green, etc. The UI category can be browsed through in a few minutes. You should find something that will be to your satisfaction there.

Sorry I think they all require Darnified UI, are there ones that dont require his mod?

Maybe download the manual version of DarkUId DarN and just install the textures? No idea if it will really work, though.

Oh, ok. Sorry. Morrowind then is the game with just a darker version of the interface. You may have to do some tweaking yourself to get the look you want.

Or go with another UI mod like BTMod maybe? I don' think it has the dark color theme you are looking for. Not sure why you don't want DarkDarnUI - it works fine for almost everybody.

http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/7698/?. I've been using it for years, love it. Be sure to get the http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/10974/, too.