I love side porches! In many of the older neighborhoods with beautiful traditional homes in our area, a side porch must have been a requirement. It's unusual for them not to have one. The side porches are usually recessed a few feet from the front of the house and extend out for 15' or so. Originally the porches were screened to "catch the breeze." Now, with air conditioning, many of them are glassed in. Whether glassed or screened, the porches afford wonderful landscape views on three sides. We'll have a 10' wide screen porch on the side of our new home---just wide enough to accomodate the 5' porch swing my uncle made for me 25 years ago. If you have a screen porch, you must add a porch swing! lkplatow, I love your porch. It's a great size.

Oh, thanks so much, folks, we really love it out there, and appreciate all the comments. We do have a slice of a water view, but we built it in the back, facing SE, because we wanted a place to get away from the afternoon sun and after dark mosquitoes. flyleft, the table came from one of the fine stores of the TJX companies, it was made in India and I just loved the muted gold color and shape. Also, WRT the tilting of the pics, yikes, sorry, I can't see it, and it's surprising that they are tilted to the right, I'm a full on left tilter IRL (wink). cyn427, we looked at Hurd and I think you are correct, Cinnamon Toast and Boysenberry are very close. I took a piece of alum to my BM store and they zapped it, mixed the color and it came out perfectly, an excellent match. rorah, thank you for saying our house doesn't resemble a new build, our goal was a new house that looks old, so thanks for noticing. Thanks again, all. sandyponder

The third picture is a screenshot of one idea. Also, the door and window beside it will be replaced with a large sliding door.

[palm smacking forehead!] You all are right - that must be the original siding. I was assuming that the current cottage lap siding (narrow boards) was the 1948 original. The only work done on the house before we came in 2007 was a fireplace addition in about 1954. Can't imagine why someone would have put new siding on such a young house, but that's the only explanation that makes sense. Indeed, that is wonderful old wood. I'd love to paint it and use it, but it has been totally trashed by the contractor installing windows and electricians roughing in for porch lights and outlets. Worse still, the removed old wide siding was tossed in the dump trailer. There was a lot removed for the slider, but it's gone, so there isn't patching material where you see holes whacked out around the wiring for the lights. Look at the bottom 3' of the wall under the kitchen window where the insulation is exposed. Old siding removed and dumped - sob! I've included photos that show the whole wall, the narrow house siding, the holes in the porch wall, and side and front elevations of the house. Thank you all for returning me to my original plan for this house - keep historic elements as much as possible, and use classic designs and materials that will take the house decades into the future. Apparently I don't have enough of the old siding to save, so what would you recommend instead? And thanks for the tongue and groove suggestion for the ceiling. That was my original request, before the contractor suggested shiplap. I'm going to return to the T&G idea. I love the idea of haint blue for the ceiling and was already considering that. I think the choice of paint or stain will depend on what's put on the long wall. The posts and soffits will be white. The floor is wide plank LVP, with an old barnwood/driftwood mix of grays and browns, with lots of texture. Thanks for sharing your expertise and suggestions!