Home networking help!

Have a Cisco E1000 router hooked up to my modem in my home office. The wifi signal to my family room ~ 40' away and through three walls could use some....umph.

There are a couple solutions that I'm aware of but others I'm sure I'm not. Looking for opinions, ideas, suggestions and performance reviews. My ideas/questions.....

1) Wireless bridge - I understand this is probably my cheapest easiest solution, but have read mixed reviews on performance and signal strength vs. other options. Basically buying another router and installing Tomatot or dd-wrt and placing it somewhere in to boost the strength of the wifi signal. I've read through the dd-wrt and while everyone seems to imply/think that it's a simple matter, I've never done it and forum hopping is about as computer savvy as I get. I've also read that the bridge could/would cut my bandwidth in half? Suggestions/comments welcome on this one.

2) Powerline adapters is where I'm kind of leaning for the stronger signal, but actual functionality on reviews scares me. It seems with an adapter and a switch I can hook up both my PS3 and Xbox and a new network receiver in the future. Ideally, can I hook up another wireless router instead of a switch to also boost wifi in that part of the house? I'd probably have to install dd-wrt on said router though...? I don't know, not terribly familiar with this stuff and most threads are oriented to a very specific situation. Again any advice or suggestions would be great.

3) Hardwiring to a switch/dd-wrt would be idea but is not an option :/


Thanks in advance for any responses and help

-Mike

Thanks, but if I understand correctly I can do the same thing with a router that's 25% of the price with dd-wrt...I think. Which I may end up doing. Was just looking for something more...stable/solid...stronger if you will. I like wifi and all but if I can get the powerline adapter idea going... I dunno, thanks for the post though