What a pretty house! I love the turret. I bet you get a great view from up there.

Would the new deck / porch go where the small deck is located now?

I have a screened porch and enjoy it so much. I can use it in all kinds of weather (except the dead of winter, although I do use it as a back up freezer).

Sitting out there is a rain storm is very pleasant and I am protected from the beating sun in summer. If you decide to do a porch (and I think it will look just fine), you may want to add some sky lights so whatever room is inside those three windows still gets some light.

Could you build the area with the screened porch (which I am assuming will come where the small deck is now ) in a rounded or half-octagon shape on the outside edge and a turret top, to flow from the area where the turret is on the house? Then the deck could have a similar curvy shape, which would create a nice flow and also break up some of the hard angles of the back of the house.

Wouldn't you want a screened porch to protect against flying insects? We used to live near Chicago and could only use our patio when the mosquitos weren't out.

Thanks for the input, Dedtired (which I am right now -- dead tired, LOL!), Les and Lynne_melb! Yes, the porch/deck will come off of the sliders where the tiny deck is now. As it stands now, it would have a gabled roof and the shed roof would just meld into it.

Dedtired, thanks for the nice compliments! This is our dream house, and we really do love it. The views are really nice. I hadn't thought of skylights -- thank you! That might be something we will incorporate if we go the porch route since I am concerned about the potential lack of light in the family room (the three windows). The windows from the sunroom (in the turret) also bleed into that area, too, so that will help some, but still...

Les, I hadn't even considered that kind of shape. That might look really nice. I'm a little concerned that it might up the price quite a bit, though, and we're on a pretty tight budget (which might be part of why I'm thinking of deck only). I can't really envision how the shed roof would tie in. I'll have to think about that.

Lynne, yes, I would like to have a sheltered area from bugs, and we really did love our old screened porch. I think I'm hesitating because of the lack of light in the family room if we build the porch, and the cost would be so much less if we just went with a bi-level deck. Plus, I just would love to see what it would look like. Maybe if I saw it, I could fall in love with the idea again!

I guess another thing that worries me is that I love the view from the family room & breakfast nook windows (lots of trees back by the creek), and I'm concerned that we'll be diminishing it by the porch obstructing part of the view (it will need to stick out about 3' more than the nook in order to be in proportion -- not long & narrow). Maybe once it's there, it won't be as bad as I'm afraid it might be.

Thanks for helping me work through this!

If you can do it, I would definitely go for the screened in porch. It's so nice to have - gets so much more use than just a deck. The only downside is they do block the light...what direction is the back of the house facing? Regarding the view, hopefully it can be constructed so you can see right through it out to your view.

I love your house. I can imagine you serving luncheon to your gfs at the top of that turret on a sunny day, with a big boquet of daisies and roses on the table -- heaven to sit up there sipping lemonade!

Hmmm... as to deck or screened porch, I think it depends a lot on your weather. It rains here in the Seattle area 9 months out of the year and decks are HUGE maintenance items. The stain or paint on them doesn't last at all. I did mine in August and in three months it looked awful. Anyhoo, which would you use most?

Thanks for weighing in Polkadots & Oceanna!

Polkadots, the house sits on an angle and the back faces southeast. I think if our windows were taller it would help a lot. That's one regret I have with our build, although we were trying very hard to stay in budget, so I don't know that I would have changed them even if I had realized that I'd want them taller because of the extra costs.

Thanks for the kind words, Oceanna! As for which we'd use most, I think we'd use the screened porch more, but when I remember gatherings at the old house, it seems that many times people would congregate on the deck. Maybe because the screened porch was only 12 x 16 and the deck was larger, 14 x 18 I believe. This porch would need to be 18 x 16 so maybe more people would gather there.

I think I am leaning toward the screened porch leading onto a lower deck so we'd have the best of both worlds. Les, I agree that the back is too angular, so even if we aren't able to do the rounded roof, I'm going to try to soften edges any way we can. I am going to look into skylights as Dedtired suggested. That might really help brighten the interior. I've never had skylights before; my only concern might be leaking, which wouldn't be too much of an issue since it's a porch, and possibly getting too hot because of the sun. Any thoughts?

Thanks again for all your help and input!!! Feel free to throw any more suggestions/comments my way -- I need all the help I can get!

How about a screened porch leading down to a pretty stained concrete patio? Lots less upkeep for you.

You know, Oceanna, I've thought about a patio instead of a deck and I think the only reason I didn't go any farther than just thinking about it is because we've always had decks rather than patios. Cost-wise, does anyone know how decking vs. stained concrete vs. pavers compare? If it worked out about even, I think we might consider other alternatives.

Although, it's very hard to see in the pic, but on the left side of the house is a basement stairwell and we were thinking the deck would extend out that way and the railing for the deck would double as a safety precaution. So I suppose if we went with a patio, we would need to move it a bit so we could use shrubs to block the stairwell. Or maybe I'm overlooking another alternative?

Concrete is cheaper than decking in our locale -- So. Cal. We're considering a deck that leads down to a patio since our house has a raised foundation and we can't just walk directly onto the existing patio.

I love the screened porch leading to a lower patio for your house. Love your house. Makes me think of living in a lighthouse. :-)

Thanks, Sarschlos_remodeler! At night it *really* looks like a lighthouse since we have a light that glows up in the cupola! I love coming home at night because of that!

Hmmmm, I wonder if concrete is cheaper than decking in the midwest. I'm thinking it's not, but I'll need to find out. I really love the look of pavers, but I'm almost sure that would be more $, unfortunately. But maybe we could just build the porch this year and save the patio for another year. I know my husband is anxious to have an outdoor area so I don't know if I could get him to wait on part of it.

Thanks for the input!