Wow, seeing those pictures brings a tear to my eye. Being able to do a room from scratch like that is invaluable, you can't put a price on it. The freedom, the choices, the possibilities... with so many directions in which you can go, it's almost paralyzing!!! Still I'd rather have a room like that with which to work than a fully finished room any day. The only downside to a project like that is that you will invariably end up forgetting to do something, or overlooking something until everything is said and done, and you will hit yourself over the head for not doing it once you realize what it is you've forgotten! The problem is no matter how many times you play it out in your head, it's just not the same as the moment of truth when you're making all of your connections and suddenly you go, "oh damn, I completely forgot about the _ _ _ _ _ _"... and you wonder how you could have been so dim to have missed it!
Still, I say all of this with envy in my heart, as I wish I could have such a project going on right now. As much satisfaction as enjoying a finished project brings, for me 2/3rds of the fun is the journey. So savor these next few weeks and months, these are the good times!
And personally, 7.1 would be the way I'd go.
