While it may great to have a shop like that in the basement, I'd rather not. I'd say the wife has more of lower expectations than a regular "loving wife."
Take a look at the picture with the hoist coming out of the basement floor, check out the light switch. Do you notice how filthy the wall is around it ? To each thier own but I'd rather leave the mess in the garage and away from the house.
It depends how badly you want something. More than one good idea has come out of a basement. If that's where you have to work, that's where you work.
Beckett Corp. started in a basement. There's a good chance if you have an oil-burning furnace you have one of their burners installed in it.
Clausing Machine Tool started on the first floor of a closed up general store during the Great Depression. The apartment where the Clausings lived above the shop had no hot water and no insulation. Sometimes, dinner consisted of a bowl of rice.
The intermittent windshield wiper circuit, still in use today, was developed by Robert Kearns in his basement. The ensuing patent litigation destroyed his family and his health, but he won against both Ford and Chrysler, making himself a hero in the eyes of "little guy" patent holders.
Guys like Beckett, Clausing and Kearns don't worry too much about smudged light switch plates. The place upstairs is merely where one sleeps. Maybe Nateman has something on his mind...
