Purchased the receiver! Due to budget and advice from JC and Brent at Axiom, I decided to save some money and go with a low-end Denon. It works perfectly for my size room and has all the features that I could ever want...for now
We settled on a very simple seating arrangement in the home theater. These "wave lounger" chairs are super comfortable and can easily be moved around so everyone gets a good view of the screen. They give the home theater a very informal, relaxed feel...which is exactly what we were wanting in this room!
Here is a final picture of the stairwell after all the painting has been completed. All we need now is to install a handrail (that is next week's project!)
