I've spent the last few days perusing garage pics...and making lists of all of the equipment I'll eventually have again to outfit the new shop. It all starts to add up pretty quick and a mezzanine is looking better and better all the time.
The "deck" above the bathroom is 9' 6" off the floor leaving a 6' 6" ceiling height above it which should be enough. The main problem is finding a place to put a flight of stairs to get up to the mezzanine.
My latest thought which I'll start drawing today is to put a narrow mezzanine along the East (right) wall starting at the bathroom and going all the way until I need to start a stairway down which will land close to where the service door enters. I'm thinking 6' wide will leave room for shelves along the wall and a walkway past them while still leaving room to put the lift below and the mezzanine posts will be right next to the lift posts. I can then put my desk area and tool boxes and workbenches under the mezzanine.
The West wall can then be used to line up the equipment that doesn't require special electric or won't be used very often like hydraulic presses, parts washers, and a place to park rolling tools like folding engine hoists and engine stands.
I'll have to draw it out and see, like I said, the main thing is to find a place to land a flight of stairs that is comfortable and safe to walk up.