IR repeater circuits

Hello everyone,
This is my first visit here, and I am also sort of new to electronic projects, so please bear with me if I seem a little slow.

I am remodeling my house, as in 'gut the thing and redo everything' because it is 50 yrs old and badly needs updating. I have completed the new power wiring, plumbing, septic, and a/c. and am doing the specialty wiring to bring it up to modern standards.

I would like to move my satellite receivers into my wiring closet, which I've built as a single entry point for all power, phone, and cable stuff, and I would like to be able to control them from various rooms.
So I would like to build some simple IR repeaters that would pick up the IR signal sequences from the remotes, amplify them, send them over some small guage phone wire that I've installed for just that reason, and light up some IR led's that I will position directly over the receiver sensors.

I priced some commercially available systems but they seemed expensive and overly complex for what appears to be a simple little project. It is my thought to buy some photo transistors (if that is the proper term) sensitive to the remotes IR frequency and quick enough to reliably pick up it's signal stream, amplify those pulses up to the 3v range or so using a small semiconductor amplifier IC, and send those pulses over some wires to the IR leds I mentioned earlier.

I am thinking of mounting the photo receiver in the center of a reflective cone shape, perhaps something like a cameras flashbulb reflector, in order to ensure a good, strong IR pulse, mount that in one face of a small plastic box, with the circuit board/IC inside, and power the thing with a wall wart.

I can probably make it neat and unobtrusive enough to just sit on the shelf near the TV. I have the signal transmission wires terminating into a phone jack wallplate behind the entertainment center, and I would simply need to mount a phone jack in the rear of the little box in order to connect using a regular short phone line.

So, I could use some advice before I try this. Is there any particular photo cell that is especially suited for what I have in mind? Any IC amplifier that I should use? This will work, won't it? Will I have to add a variable sensitivity circuit on the input so as not to have false triggering?

As you can see, I need all the help I can get. Are there some useful circuit designs I should check out? Or any particular areas where I might run into difficulty? A good parts supplier ? Is Jameco OK?

I will be grateful for any assistance anyone cares to offer. Thanks,
Rob