I'd be lost without my quilting wall. But I did it on the cheap. I had way too many books that I didn't want to get rid of, so I bought a bunch of small boxes and filled them with the books. Then I stacked the boxes along the wall, about 3 boxes wide and four boxes tall. Then I went to Hancocks and bought some white flannel on sale. I attached the sheet of flannel to the top row of boxes - voila! The boxes were hidden, and the quilting wall appeared. On the top of the boxes I put a cheapo white very small bookcase (like you can buy in pieces at Walmart). All my stash is stored there, in full view.
I love having someplace to stick blocks, etc., to be able to stand back and see what they look like. It's fun to go back into the room later and look at the same arrangement of blocks on the wall and see if I feel the same way about it.
Bottom line is, you'll love a quilting wall and you don't have to spend much on it.