As a comment on the basement: be aware that high humidity will cause problems with your wood. If it's high enough, wood will mildew. If not, it may cause wood to warp (cup, bow, twist, whatever) when you bring it in, and possibly again when you bring it out. If the basement is especially humid, I'd recommend buying a dehumidifier. At least where I live they're not too expensive. If you can't, and the basement has any windows, buy a fan and run it (blowing out the window) whenever you can. It will help, some.
As to the rest: Where in Europe are you? There are some good manufacturers of hand tools over there, I'm sure. If you go into the User Control Panel ("User CP") and set your location, at least to what country you're in, we may be able to give better advice.
I suppose that I haven't actually bought any low-quality high-cost tools for woodworking yet, but I have for other things. I work in IT (computer support), and sometimes the most expensive option is also the lowest quality. And sometimes you can get something exceedingly close to the best quality for a lot less than the best brand costs.