well, I see that you asked this over a year ago, but I'll go ahead and answer anyway. Maybe it will help someone else who reads this.
I was faced with a similar situation a few years ago- I wanted to try my hand at making wood furniture, but I live in a smallish condo where it just isn't feasible to try and do this.
So...I found a local place that offered woodworking classes. One of their offerings was a free-form once a week arrangement where you brought in your own ideas, your own materials, and the instructors were there to show you how to use the machines, make suggestions, etc. They were great, they really went above and beyond- one of them even lent me some of his personal collection of carving tools.