I have my studio in the basement as well. It's only been a couple of months that it's been there, but during the darkest coldest months so far. We're in an arid climate, so I can't help with moisture issues, but I would say these are the things I've found:
We have a DriCore subfloor over the concrete and laminate on top of that, so no exposed concrete to contend with in that room. DH says it's the warmest room in the house. The floor is cold. I am usually an barefoot person (worse than a toddler actually. If I'm home, the socks are off, left in boots, on the floor, beside me anywhere but on my feet.
) but I'm learning to sew with my socks and slippers on. This seems to be regardless of whether I have a space heater on, and our house has a good furnace, but the vents in the basement are in the ceiling. Floors will be different.
Lighting. The house is a 1978 model, and the basement windows are what you'd probably think they are. I think I measured the frame at 18x51", and with the way this basement is divided up, there's exactly one window in the room. I don't depend on the light from it. I have the decorative privacy film on the windows (since Saturday) and I have an unreal number of lights in the area. 9 Ikea halogens and 3 4ft florescents. There aren't a lot of shadows at all. The one thing I'm thinking of changing though is the color temperature of the florescents. I was thinking of a natural daylight temperature, or even a few of the plant and aquarium lights to make the lighting more human friendly for the long periods of time I spend there. The only option for me, since the long arm arrived is to knock a wall out of two of the rooms upstairs, and I haven't figured out how to convince DH that we NEED to move Lucey to the room next to the bedroom so I can quilt upstairs and keep him awake...