I'm going to emphasize this: Being cheap on a audio front end will leave you very disappointed in the long term.
That is, Bluesound and Sonos cost a fair bit for a reason. Their software support is far superior to that of other companies. There are certainly independent options out there which range from cheap to free, some may even be very good, but you are going to find that in a few years, you are outta luck. It will be absorbed by someone bigger, or it will be gone. There won't be customer service and support for the long term, and that is often NOT what people really want.
Same is true of storage. Either get two mirrored hard drives, or get a quality NAS. Do something to ensure you won't lose your data, unless your time is worthless.
I use a Sonos, generation 2, and it works well, but I would possibly get a Bluesound for my next whole house player. Both options can play back audio from my collection on computers in my home or from a NAS directly and provide EXCELLENT phone control which gives me a solid remote that requires zero need for me to touch a computer for playback.
Yes, I realize everyone has different needs, but the lack of software support, the lack of hardware support, and ZERO guarantee of upgrades and updates in cheap solutions can be a massive headache. That's entirely what the extra money you pay into these systems are for. A well founded company with a long term plan for stability.