I moved my sewing room from a second story bedroom to our mostly finished basement six years ago when our youngest son went off to college. Previously he and his buddies had been using the space as a poker/recreation room. There would be up to a dozen of them playing cards at the same time, so they had set up several desks and tables of similar heights so that they could all play one game together. So I had an immediate set up for laying out my quilts to pin. It is a daylight walk-out, but I still need to supplement the overhead lights with a few spot lamps, but that seems to work for me. The biggest problem has been the size of my stash, which has increased to fill my space--LOL! As far as heat, just put on a sweater and enjoy the productivity from being able to work harder without sweating too much! It has also been great in the summer as it's nice and cool down there!