I'm not entirely sure I understand this last question. You have 16 pages defined because you're using 4 bits of the page register. You are mapping main flash from 8000 - 0xFFFF on the first 8 pages in code space. On any of those 8 pages, by setting the appropriate bits in the VM register, you can allow access to DATA memory to go to the main flash as well. I guess what you're asking is can you use another 2 pages to just map the external SRAM in? The answer is yes. On those two pages, you could just NOT map the main flash from 8000 - FFFF and instead your SRAM will be accessed regardless of the VM register's contents.
Yes... I'd say that's the best way to do it. It's a little tough to program in PSDSoft express, however, because you'll have to throw in pgrX signals into the chip select equations for your SRAM. Other than that, though, you shouldn't be thrown any curveballs.