Basement for sure!! Scared of tornadoes.

I vote for the basement - based on your intended use. I have an older home, with a nice walk in attic, and a moderate sized basement. The basement is great for work shop areas, and the attic is great for storage.

find a house with a 3car or so heated garage

Due to my architectural backgrounds, an attic appeals to me more as a place, and its ability to create unique space/place up in an attic.

Basement is the popular choice, mostly because of the abundance of space.

I'm a fan of natural light and would open up my attic, while doing extensive insulating to protect it.

I would love to see what you would design for your own home. I can almost imagine it.

It would definitely incorporate a lot of open spaces, post modern design elements with a lot of commercial construction detailing (exposed steel, raw materials like concrete, frameless glass) that sorta thing.

I've worked on a few renovation projects, but have yet to do a real attic renovation/restoration. With a traditional peak roof house, you can create interesting interior ceiling lines by adding window dormers etc. I've always wanted a nice reading window in a dormer. That would be nice.

Here is a cool example



to this

Both

I say basement because usually there is more room in them than an attic.
most homes with an attic have a pitched roof therfore less overhead space.
kinda sucks walking sideways

but then again I have to duck in parts of my basement as well.
damn pipes got me a few times.

Hmmm.... ok.

he has to put the wife somewhere

I'm the chef actually. Yeah.. my two hobbies are cooking and my bonneville.