Setting up a darkroom is simple. I always set mine up in a basement or downstairs bathroom. Start with B&W it is real easy. I had a roll of photostencil for silkscreening. I don't know where they sell this stuff, but it is red and can be used to patch large lightleaks. I used red graphics tape along the door. I got a hose from a medical supply store and hooked it to the sink faucet and ran it into a tray in the bathtub. I bought four brown 1 gallon jugs, and labeled them. I spent the most on the used bogen enlarger and a new timer to plug the enlarger into. I used a piece of plywood over the tub to hold my developer stopbath and fixer. This setup will let you make prints, and also make positives from your negatives. You can pare this down by losing the enlarger, timer and paper trays. Substitute a slide projector for making positives.
A good book to have is The Photographers Handbook ISBN 0-679-74204-2. I had the second and third editions. You should be able to get a copy used online. It explains recticulation, posterization, and other effects that you should be able to do with this setup. The film tank should come with a thermometer. The spool or two spools in the tank should be plastic. The metal spools are better but harder to load until you get good at it. You will probably want to practice loading the spools in your changing bag before you try it for real. Just use pieces of developed film or use a cheap roll and pull out half of it and cut it, the other half can be used for contact positives. The first couple of spools you load can be trying. I always kept a pair of scissors in the bag and cut the lip off the film as it was usually bent from being loaded in the camera.

Developing your own film will give you an education in photography that will make you better at photoshop and better at digital photography. Don't put it off, its way easier than you think. Just do film and see how it works. The developer has info on times and temps and I believe the film did too, though it may be on Kodaks website now. Have fun!