Here's a site that has some of them saved from Gran's Front Porch. Here is a link that might be useful: Gramma Owl

I would use granite slabs and forget the Craftsman idea. Interesting brickwork.

I love seeing her designs, but I don't have any of her books. I know Painting Fool has attended some of her classes. Also, I think it was Krafty Mom who posted some sites where you can sometimes find older painting books. I know I saved the link but will have to look for it. Hope someone else can help you. Oh, have we all given you a proper welcome to the forum? We love it when we have new posters come by. If you've been browsing any, I'm sure you know we love seeing pictures of projects, so hope you will be able to share some with us soon too. Luvs

If the house isn't centered on the lot, how much room do you have and on which side? Can you draw the entire lot with the house and add dimensions? Which direction does the porch face? South? North? Are you removing the roof to make vaulted ceilings? You said you are from the south, but have you ever lived with vaulted ceilings? I live in Oklahoma, and I hate my high ceilings. So hot in the summer and cold in the winter. I also have an open floor plan with kitchen, dining room, and great room that was made out of two different porches, a living room, and a kitchen. I don't know what the previous owners were thinking. They had to put two manufactured beams and one steel I-beam in the open area. The old porches had different kinds of ceilings and different heights of ceilings. We spent $20,000 on a new 35 ft beam to get rid of the choppiness that people have been mentioning. Putting the new beam in caused other issues that had to be fixed, so more money was spent just on structure! I would not get rid of the porch. It makes the house look inviting. It keeps the house from looking like a box. Your contractor said he could add a shower only and demo the porch, dig foundations, add walls, concrete footings, match the siding, paint the entire exterior of the house, install drywall, doors, moldings, paint all of the living room, dining room, and kitchen, and run new electrical wiring for the front add on, lights, shower stall, plumbing, and whatever else I did not mention. Add a new front porch enclosure, raise the roof for vaulted ceilings, remove the kitchen wall which you really need to keep in place.....it is going to snowball. And...you need $10k in new windows because the old ones are shot. He will do this for $20,000? Every time we started a project in our current house, it always cost us more than the estimate. A lot more. Our new siding was $9200 more. The upstairs remodel went from $3200 to $12,000. They don't know what is under what they are taking out, so the estimate is their best guess if nothing goes wrong like a rotting porch. Are all the other homes around you larger than yours? Have they all been enlarged or updated? You need to think about the area and whether or not your home will have a comparative value. If your home becomes the Taj Mahal in the neighborhood, you may never get your money out of it once you sell. How old are your kids? Will they be leaving home within the next five years? 10? 15? Kids can deal with sharing a bathroom with you. I think the king sized bed may have to go because you don't have a place for storing things like holiday decorations, etc. I didn't see a garage, anyway. When you start removing walls like the dining room wall, you start losing places to put furniture and end tables with lamps. Your kitchen will have less wall space if you remove the wall. You could probably fit a small table and chairs on that wall. Since you bought it, I assume you will want to move in soon. I would start with necessary things like new windows. Everything else is just "wish-I-could-have". You really must live in it for a while to know where best to spend your money. Once you live in it, you may find that the heat/ac need replaced, or the hot water tank, or the plumbing needs repaired, or the roof leaks..... Don't hire a contractor until you know for sure that nothing else needs repaired or replaced. Live in the house for a while. I live in a fairly cheap state for building costs, and all of your plans would cost $80,000-100,000 here. My 15 windows cost $18,000. Ask your contractor if you could "go up". I don't know if your walls and foundations could support a second floor or not, but I have always heard that is much cheaper to go up since you don't do any ground work. Maybe that has changed though... Congratulations on your new home! When you start remodeling, post the pictures so we can all celebrate with you! Your kids will love having their own bedrooms and love the front porch, too! That is my favorite! I love the detailed woodwork!