All of your suggestions are great. I have two cutting boards, one taller with a matching size chair and a second one on the sewing table that I can use when pains using it start. Switching the cutting boards and the ironing boards (I have two small ones) really help. But my life saver are the strips of LED lights that you can stick on your machine that really lights up the sewing area. You can buy one set, with plugs, etc., for your machine and then just the LED strips for another machine, or where you do your hand work. It has really helped me with geting those tricky seams done right the first time.