Sorry for the delayed reply :)
Athena... we used T-Bar ceiling for most of the basement... where the TV and bar are.
My hubby is an electrician and hates when people completely drywall a ceiling. Makes it tough to add things in later.
And yes, we did pretty much everything ourselves. We had help from some family members for certain things, and the only area we hired someone for is to do the mudding/taping... far too messy!