I'd rather have teeth pulled without a pain shot than paint a redwood deck. Paint on decks tend to make them very slick when wet so I would suggest adding some polymer beads mixed into the paint. You'd have to roller it on tho as it won't go thru a sprayer. The one time I did paint a redwood deck I used a latex primer slightly watered down so it would absorb into the wood good. Then I used an industrial enamel for the top coat. It was a grey color & showed up every little stain/dirt real bad. I would suggest using Ken's RAD products to clean up the deck & brightner to bring back the original color then apply a quality stain. I haven't used his new stain yet, but did use the RAD product & it worked like a champ. Al

Lori,,,I believe their front door is yellow?? kismekate,,,,what kind of wood did you use here? Kiln dried? the bottom step,,,that isn't touching the dirt, is it? If so, it's going to wick up moisture and rot a lot faster. make sure you waterproof those edges very well. ( and don't forget to do the underside of the wood with whatever you do) they have deck stains in every color. they also come in semi transparent and opaque. You want a deck stain/paint because of the foot traffic the stairs will receive) (this looks like fir, so the semi will look a bit different than on pine) Make sure it has UV protectant in it. That would be a better choice than say, porch paint. (and of course don't use regular exterior paint. It won't hold up to the foot traffic) . here are the deck stain in semi transparent if you go to BM or Sherwin williams or even Behr, you can pretty much get any color mixed into their deck stains. cabot, solid stain, below. I almost want to say paint the stairs black and do the risers in a different color., or light gray or even a yellow.

Whatever color you choose tho, do an eggshell or satin. That’ll make it much easier to clean than a matte but it won’t be super shiny to bring attention to it

One option for a front porch or even a smaller portico could be to use a shaped front for the porch. You could have a "point" to the roof or you could use a flat roof and still use five of the six sides of a hexagon for the shape of the porch You could use the garage wall as one side of a "hexagon" with a parallel straight side to the porch on the other side -- placing that side of the porch on either side of that first window. Take into consideration if you want that window shaded if you choose the larger porch. Your porch floor could have the two parallel straight sides and then two angled sides that meat another straight front side. The roof could have a center point with three front slopes and then te back of the front porch roof could merge into the existing roof in a traditional center ridge style. You'd have multiple "sides" to your porch to decide where you want your front sidewalk/entry point to be. You could leave an opening in the landscaping and/or railing (or screened door) so the entry is in the angle facing the driveway rather than the front straight side of the porch. Yo could also leave an opening in the railing or landscaping to exit the porch to the left toward a small front yard patio, moving your hedge forward away from the house to create a green fence for it. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/479633429035255291/