The old workshop or showroom debate will go on forever. I guess everybody's got to hit their own sweet spot in terms of how they want to use the place and how they'd like it to look.
Mine is reasonably well known on the internets. If it's got a virtue, it's that I did a lot with a small space and a small budget. I'm at 20x20 and $3,500. I shop for damaged industrial stuff and then chop and weld from there. I do automotive work in it, and also some carpentry and metal fabrication.
I did everything myself, including setting the tile and digging the pit for the lift. Everything in the place is second-hand, re-purposed or home-made.
I also made a website for it:
http://www.12-gaugegarage.com (This is not spam. I don't make any money off of the website and pay for it out of my own pocket.)
Work benches that fold down from the wall:
And it's got its own a video:
The 12-Gauge Garage Video
And yes, a video just about the lift I put in:
My Garage Lift
Is it always this clean? No. Not by a long shot.
But it does go back to clean very quickly -- that's the real accomplishment of it, I think. I finally took the time to work out a place for everything to go when It's not being used.
In practice, it makes a huge difference not having to spend so much time looking for things you've misplaced. I spent years doing that.