This app was mentioned in 2 comments, with an average of 1.00 upvote
Smitten SMS (Free on XDA forums by the developer). It's very clean and customizable with lots of great features.
It's very similar to 8sms, but it has a more updated look/feel to it.
Nexus5, Android 4.4.4, Smitten SMS ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.smitten.smms )