Protection Question Relating to Formatting

[DrDave6]

I'm using Excel 2010.

I have all cells locked in a worksheet, and am using the following code.

ActiveSheet.Protection.AllowEditRanges.Add Title:="dhRange", Range:=Rows("17:9000") ' Allow rows 17 to 9000 t0 be edited
ActiveSheet.Protect Password:="ThisIsMyPassword" ' Protect the worksheet

I expect (want) rows 1-16 to be fully protected. However, the users should be able to change the formatting colour in rows 17-9000.

How can I do this? All suggestions appreciated.