Well I ran across this thread and it invoke so many memories I just had to write something. My first "shop" was my dad's garage where I managed a small space next to the chevy for a cobbled together bench big enough to put my pride and joy craftsman three drawer tool box on. I could move the car out of the garage, bring in my dirt bike and bust my knuckles. Later my dad and I built a 10'x10' shed in the back yard that was "mine". It was 2x4's and plywood and not much else, but it had a plywood bench across one side and I even put some old carpet down on the slab that I rescued from a house down the street. My friends and I could work on the bikes, get grease all over and no one bothered us. My machines at that time were an old black and decker 1/4" drill and,,,well that was it.
When I moved out, got married and had my own place, the "shop" was again a spot next to the car...if there was a garage at all After several rentals, we finally bought a tract home and it had this "huge" two car garage. Twenty feet by nineteen point five feet never looked so big. It was so big I sub divided it into a wash room, a full length work bench/shop and room for one car (my wife's of course). Many moves later and many garage/shops later my wife and I came to the point where we felt we had the means to build our own "dream" home and shop. Not that we already hadn't built a "dream" home (and shop) while we raised three kids over a 20 year period, but it was patched together from pieces and parts from someone else's "dream" home, and not really ideal. So the idea was that as we came towards retirement age, we would sell out, build a small home and a large shop where we both could persue our hobbies and crafts. A 1500 sq. ft. modular home and a 6,000 sq. ft. metal building shop on a few acres was the vision.
After a long search, two years of building and now five years of settling in...the reality is different, not better or worse just different. It turns out that modular homes and large metal buildings are ok in many places, but not where the land is valuable and the views are "pretty", or so it happened. We ended up with a beautiful site, a beautiful home and a beautiful shop. Beautiful meaning the home got bigger and the shop got smaller. I shouldn't complain, my shop is a finished 2500 sq. ft. space with epoxy coated floors, high ceilings, cabinets everywhere, 400amp service, 110v and 220v outlets every were and work benches for miles. The shop has areas for lapidary work, wood work, metal work and automotive/motorcycle building. I have more machines than I can count...although many a compromise on cost and capacity, I feel like I can build just about anything. So it takes a while. I'm 61 years young. It takes a LOT of hard work. It takes a wife that's willing to go along with it, (she also has her 25'x25' "craft room" by the way). Getting your "dream shop" means getting the best you can achieve with the means and resources you can muster and then being happy with it. I still remember how thrilled I was with that first shed I built with my dad...and how greasy that darn carpet got.
)) and tried to put in (hopefully) enough power for future needs. I put in a 100A panel, ran 6 240V circuits to various spots around the building and put in about 40 120V receptacles, basically 2 duplex's every 6ft. I hate tripping over cords, so having an outlet close at hand is great. 
