Ask HN: What Route or mesh network for home WiFi

After years of putting off buying a the new router I need to lather my entire house in acceptable wifi coverage, I finally have the drive to upgrade. The far corners of my house are not covered by my singular router. I keep putting off upgrading because I haven't kept track of all the new options, what to avoid, and what options I have besides just a standard wireless router. So now I must ask the HN crowd: How should I update my home networking solution? Constraints: I don't have ethernet running to the second floor. I could have multiple access points on the first floor if i put the modem & router in the basement, but then where does that leave my second floor? (separate router, access points, and mesh?) I like the idea of a mesh network but a.) I don't want an app to be required configure it, b) I don't like a google-like product that phones home and c) doesn't give me enough configurability (like running DNS through a pihole, etc.) I'd very much prefer something supported by openWrt, so when support for a $300 device drops in 2 years, I can keep it going. (but this seems like a pipe dream to find something that fits my needs and works with open source firmware, so it's not a hard requirement...)

Bottom line is any googling I do leads me to crappy reviews of the same 4 brands of BS, most of which is outdated models anyway that will likely lose support any time now. I want to hear what your crazy one off solutions are.