She has such a small footprint so she is perfect for small spaces. My DH lifted the table top with spacers so the gap is not an issue. I did get the regulator and it still sounds like a deranged lawn mower when I use it. But the stitches look better than without. I got mine with the open-toe foot and recently bought a few ruler templates. We also didn't buy the extension tables. Instead, we put 2 small IKEA cabinets back to back on one side (for extra storage) and a perfectly-sized IKEA fold-up table on the other.
There is a Handiquilter Sweet 16 yahoo group with tons of info.