Advice for home Studio from scratch!

[sefton]

I'm writing from the point of a keen novice and due to a new extension being built I've decided (well my girlfriend has let me) to include a home cinema!

The attached picture shows the basic layout of the room kitchen/living area including a very badly drawn L shaped sofa and shelving area to the left of it. The overall size of the living area is 3.9 x 3.4 meters.

My girlfriend is concerned that our lovely knew extensions will be filled with wires and flashing boxes and so on. I want to build this new home cinema without seeing any wiring at all and would require the speakers to be small and unobtrusive. I have thought of hiding the sub woofer in a section of the shelving area and covering the front with speaker cloth. Is this possible? Also, I will probably build a cabinet underneath the screen to hide dvd, amp etc.

I have a budget of £1,200 for everything (but not the bulding work) including screen, recorable dvd, amp, speakers etc.

So, I would like advice on the following please:

1. What is the best way of hiding the wires. Trunking them into the plaster and behind the skirting boards?

2. Using the attached pic. which is the best layout for my home cinema? Taking into consideration I want to hide as much equipment as possible. Can you put the rear speakers on the floor?

3. Most importantly, what is the best system for my budget.

4. Are all in one systems better value than seperates.

5. Any tips about hiding equipment!

I would welcome any comments and advice from you guys and girls.

Mike