Tips for constructing small PCBs with only one SOIC
Don't be afraid of SMT work, it's easy once you get the hang of it - just as easy as through hole with the right equipment.

A few tips - in the same spirit as the useful Sparkfun tutorial Vicatcu mentions, just from my personal view:


Grab yourself a half decent temperature controlled soldering iron and hot air tool - these can be separate or in one "rework station". The YH899D is a very cheap rework station which performs very well for the price - I have one here and have used it plenty for a year or so with no problems (for TQFP, QFN, SOIC, 0603 R&amp;C, etc) The tips are compatible with Hakko irons so easy to find.   





Get some decent anti-static tweezers for placing components.





Design a PCB and get it made cheaply. ITead or SeedStudio both have very cheap prototyping services (from only $9.90 for 10 boards! - hard to beat even if you make your own). ITead has a 4-layer option, which is the only cheap one I know about (used it a few times with no issues)
The wait can be up to 3-4 weeks (generally quicker) 
Whilst waiting for the board you may want to practice soldering/desoldering on some old boards. There are loads of tutorials around for SMT soldering, some good answers on here too, so I won't go into detail apart from a few small points: flux is your friend, make sure you have plenty of it and use it liberally. Learn to drag solder for the fine pitch ICs - TQFP, SOIC, etc; get a hoof tip for this. Get some good quality wick to clean up bridges.  
Get more than one of each component so if you make a mess you can try again - you'll have 10 boards to get it right with if you use one of the services above.