I lived at home, in Columbus, Ohio, till I was out of college, and had a serviceable workshop set up in the basement. When I moved out on my own I lived in bachelor apartments for about ten years. In each case I rented a two-bedroom apartment, slept in the smaller bedroom, and used the "master bedroom" for a workshop.
After I got married, and we bought a house, I made do for several years with space on the kitchen table. (Houses in eastern North Carolina don't have basements - for excellent reasons.) When the first of my stepchildren left the roost we turned his bedroom into a combination guest room and workshop. The workbench consisted of a sheet of plywood laid over the twin-size bed; when we had a guest the workbench got torn down. It was a lousy arrangement.
A few years ago my mother died (Dad had gone ten years earlier), and my brother and I sold the old house in Columbus. My dear, dear wife insisted that I use some of the proceeds to buy a workshop. (She admits that the prospect of getting the mess and smell out of the house was one motivating factor.) We bought a pre-manufactured, plywood-and-cedar-siding building from a company called Leonard, which delivered it and set it up in the back yard (after I checked with the city about the building codes). I now have my own detached, wired, insulated, heated, air-conditioned, 200-square-foot shop, fitted out (by me) to my own specifications. (The answer to the Big Obvious Question is: about $7,000.)
Retirement is about eight years down the road; my intention is to spend a substantial percentage of my time after 2013 in that shop. I'm well aware of how lucky I am - both to have such a facility at my disposal and to have a wife who not only tolerated but encouraged its purchase. In my defense, it took me a long time to get it.
Youth, talent, hard work, and enthusiasm are no match for old age and treachery.