True lighting and a good cutting surface...neither of which I have, I might add. :( I did get some good ideas from all of your posts. I do like having my sewing/den combo except that it feels messy all the time. And, darn it...I think I am the one who is messing it up! I do use an Ott lite to help with the lighting issue and I have one of those extra wide ironing boards that fit over a regular sized ironing board and has a cutting mat for the top of it. I will say it is better than nothing, but when I am in serious project cutting mode I do that downstairs on a butcher block island in my kitchen (exellent lighting and space).