I had half a basement that wasn't being used and found for $300 a guy selling a power cage, adjustable bench, olympic bar, ~200 lbs weights, fixed-weight dumbells from 10 - 70 lbs in increments of 5 lbs, a lateral pulldown machine, and several 1-inch bars and a few hundred lbs of weights for it, oh and a roman chair. Needless to say, it was the steal of the century.

A good site that discusses weight lifting (with an emphasis on women, but recognized by all as a great site) is

http://www.stumptuous.com/weights.html

A cage really doesn't take up that much space at all and allows you to do sooo many exercises with absolute safety. In fact, I no longer go to the gym for weights because I have everything I need and can finish my workout in the time it takes me to get there and actually start working out (it's rather crowded). The only thing I'm missing is a treadmill or something.

-Dave