Here's a vote for NOT doing the railing in white or any color other than black. Keep it traditional! There's nothing like beautiful black railings, not to mention, regardless of what you do with your house's colors in the future, black railings will work. On to the steps: first thing is make sure you understand your city's codes and regs. You might not be permitted to reduce the height of the risers, as some have suggested, and I suppose it's possible that a deck-type construction in the place of the top step might not be allowed either. (It's really amazing the number of things covered by codes.) With regs on the depth of treads and height of risers, doing any kind of deck or landing will require that the steps be extended, at least by the depth of a full riser to replace that bit in front of the door. (I think that's correct.) In that case, I think you'll have to go down sideways and then right angle straight down toward the street -- there isn't room to go all the way down because you'll cut into the sidewalk. And that's probably against code as well, not to mention displeasing aesthetically. We had a very similar situation here with our back steps, the ones we use all the time: door to a mudroom, with concrete steps going sideways (but each was as long as the mudroom!) from a concrete landing (equally long, or wide if you will -- the whole thing looked like some kind of loading dock!) We now have: a small covered porch in front of the door, about 3 feet by 7 feet; one step going down sideways along the side of the house onto a landing that is about 4 feet by 4 feet; then right angle down straight 3 more steps. The porch, landing and treads are native bluestone; the sides of the whole thing look like dry-laid stone but are in fact cemented in; but the inside consists of the broken-up concrete. The railings are black. They are hand-forged in a design of the fabricator's making, and look 18th century. They had to be done according to code, i.e., a certain height, a certain distance between each spindle or whatever it's called, all around the porch,and then down from the landing to the last tread. Not cheap, unfortunately, but when the building inspector came by to check on the finished work, he didn't even get out of the car....took one look, said they were among the most beautiful he'd ever seen, gave us his blessing, and left. I got the idea for stone steps and iron railings after dealing with always-rotting wood and/or always-deteriorating paint at our former house. I was so sick of having to paint at least every other year! Our stone steps and iron look gorgeous, and they are virtually maintenance free, so I suppose the cost is something I no longer think about! And in fact, given the cost of wood and the labor cost in doing the construction, it's not clear what the marginal increase in cost of stone/iron over wood actually was. which leads, in a rambling way to this: what direction does your weather come from? Our wood steps at the old house were directly in the line of storms, and snow would collect and sit on them. Hence the rot and peeling paint. If you decide to go with wooden steps, I strongly urge you to use the absolute best paint you can. Something like Fine Paints of Europe. I finally used FPE on the wood porch railing at the old place, but never used anything but Benjamin Moore on the landing and treads. Year after year, the latter had to be redone while the former looked as good as when I first painted. Sorry for the ramble today....many things going on around me!

Great ideas so far! Our smart pergola by Arcadia has really helped facilitate needs much like yours. We find a lot of our clients hesitant to give up one thing over another due to either the pergola itself, the space, or restrictions. One thing to keep in mind with a wooden pergola although beautiful and helpful is that in most cases it is wooden, and it requires some maintenance over time. You potentially risk the problem of an open flame for a bbq, grill, and fire pits. Another that we encountered was the overall maintenance during the course of seasonal change and climate changes. Rain, sun, heat, and cold weather all take its' toll on wood, even treated wood with oil or stain. We would love to help you create the perfect patio just the way you dream it to be! We invite you to take a look at our page, gather some ideas, and see what the Arcadia Louvered Roof could provide for your home. Our system is completely customizable in color and size, allowing you to keep every possibility available! Our built in gutter system keeps you dry and allows you to provide shade at any time of the day! Good luck and let us know how we can help with your Houzz project! -The Shade Team Shade: Outdoor Living Solutions

The "raised planter(s)" not making sense to me. Their top elevation would need to be higher than top steps (which ideally would be just below threshold, and that would be against the siding. Not good. Why are raised planters in the equation? This will two patio doors, side-by-side, separated by no more than 4'? I would not put any planter in between, but a continuous landing spanning both sets of doors. If you want plants in between, a large, low planter can go there. A somewhat wider view photo would help. (Adding pics from phone is same if you're using web browser, not app. BTW, last time I tried the app, it was full of glitches.)

Build a deck it will solve all your problems. That row of siding will ve removed, you will have flashing under the ledger, z-flashing over the ledger, etc and you will have a beautiful deck for many years to enjoy. Good luck