After writing this all out, and then talking to my husband this AM - he thinks we'd be better to build a long narrow shed than go the mobile home route. And since he'd be doing most of the building part (he's semi-retired) if he's willing, so am I.
We should have no problem with the County putting up another storage shed, farmers are always putting up another building LOL!! And this way I'll get exactly what I want, and it will be tight and well insulated and have outlets all over the place. I really like the idea of hanging quilts on the walls - though I don't have any yet, just figure I'll eventually have plenty. Though I've volunteered to finish up those my Mom started, and it appears she started more than I thought.
DH keeps wanting to turn the building into a square, and I want and need long and narrow. He's trying to save on materials, and I want a lot of wall space to put sewing cabinets along. That is why a trailer works so well, long and narrow. He then said 12x24 and I said maybe 12x50. Since a lot of single wides are closer to 80' long, I'm still less than that.
My dining room is 9'8" inside, so 12' exterior would be adequate. I currently have an area that is 5x6 for my "office" and I know I don't need a lot more room than that, though a window will be nice. I don't even have a window in my "real" office LOL!! BTW - I won't use it as a "tax deduction" because I don't have enough other deductions to itemize - low mortgage, low RE tax and NO state income tax = itemized total less than standard by quite a bit.
Side note - I shake my head at the people that say they are going to save a lot in taxes by buying a house - and then find out that their itemized deduction is only a few hundred more than the standard allowance -so all the "tax savings" the realtor told them about don't happen.
Back to Sewing machines, I like the shelves I have for the treadle heads, and allow for 5 machines in 24" of wall space. Since I need about 20' for my quilt frame, I could be shelves along the wall behind it and still have plenty of room to walk around, and that would give me enough storage for 50 machine heads! I could also store the cased machines there (with the top off).
so 20' for the quilting frame and machine heads, 12' on the end for my office and "water closet" and then figuring out how much room in between for the sewing cabinets. I'm not moving out my main sewing machines and work areas - that is staying in the house were it is.
I have 16 cabinets I want to move out for sure - that leaves 10 in the house, but they are sort of "end tables" and I can leave them like that. closed up, the take from 24-36" and opened between 3' and 5.5 feet. I figure I can store them close, and then pull them forward if I want to open them up. It would be neat to have them always open, but that is not good for the extensions. It would only work if I removed the extensions and stored them. Though that is an idea - and then just make quilted covers for the machines. . . not sure which idea I'd like better, as love both the cabinets and the machines. . .
So, back to the cabinets. I figure I can have two per running foot of room (one on each side). Cabinets closed at most take 36" inches, so if I say 8 times 3', that would be another 24' of building.
So we're up to 20+12+24 = 56' long. And if DH thinks 12x56 is two long and narrow, I can always suggest 18x50 LOL!! Though I suppose going 24x24 and putting a wall down the middle would be the same thing . . . big sigh . . . funny how sometimes you think and think and end up right back where you started. I'm been so focused on a wide open space, I wasn't thinking about putting a wall down the middle and having two spaces.