I would stay upstairs and turn the room downstairs into your "closet" for your extra fabrics and books and things that are not "needed" at the moment. If you want to know how you would feel about being in the basement, move a machine down there and work for a week sewing and doing most of your work down there. take a medium size mat down there to use and your iron and board and see how it floats you before your go to the trouble of moving and painting. to take care of the blue color you could hang up some of your favorite fabrics on the walls for the week.