You mentioned colum covers, here is one idea, this is in my upstairs man room looking down into the great room, just pine 1"x6" boxed to look barn style with gussets. a buddy of mine used directional can lights above his mounts to light them up along with a dimmer,it looks great.

I built a shelf out of rough sawn oak, unstained just natural, and some homemade brackets out of flat steel painted flat black, the black smith look Great for sheds and what nots. Tv cabinet is home made as well, im a tight wad [8D]

As John mentioned, if your doing surround sound, run speaker wire in the walls before dry walling unless you go wire less , i need to camo my speakerssome how, they look out of place.burbour keeps the floor toasty and comfy.
I still want to add some rough sawn cedar to the two mount walls ,but hey it takes money and i aint got it right now