When I bought our HT setup last spring, it was for watching movies and I wanted the surround experience. So I got a smallish 5.1 HTIB (HT in a box). To ease the wiring issue, I got a "wireless" connection to the rear speakers, which was an additional option. Wireless here means that a signal is sent wirelessly to a small amplifier to which the two rear speakers connect via normal speaker wire.
The setup is a big improvement over TV speakers and gives fairly good sound (for a $700 system) for movies. A setup like this is non-obtrusive and may work for you aesthetically while still giving you surround sound. So you might want to look into this.
Disclaimer: I've never listened to a sound bar and am just assuming that it doesn't really do surround. An earlier post alluded to that too.