Any thoughts?

You will need to explain better. What is "flipping + extending"?

Maybe I'm being dense, but is the garage on the left side? It looks like there's a sidewalk leading that way . . . .

Yes, it's currently a side-entry on the left side. We are thinking about "flipping" it to the right side, so it would face the front door (courtyard style entry) with the shed dormer also facing the right side. We would also need to extend the length of the garage 7'-0" to fit both garage doors in front of the porch.

Can you not move the garage doors to "courtyard style" without flipping the garage and the dormer? It looks nice as it is. As for adding 7 feet, it's hard to say without knowing what the dimensions are and what the protrusion length is already.

Questions:

What would be the benefit of flipping it?

Better views?

Better light?

Would the dormer over the garage be functional or just for looks?

Or would the entire plan flip?

Thoughts:

adding 7' for garage doors I think would be fine since after all it is a courtyard entrance. I would make sure that the garage doors have a carriage style feel to add to the curb appeal.

If the dormer over the garage serves no purpose but a visual one I wouldn't do it. I think placing an arbor over the garage doors would be more charming and lend itself to the style of the home.

Flipping it will make the entrance more crowded if everything stays the same but the garage. You lose the space of that stretch of porch and window between front door and garage.

It's possible, but you will have to make a few other changes. Our new build is set up in a similar way, with the courtyard garage and dormer facing the same direction. We did it that way because otherwise the large bonus room dormer would have faced west and cooked that upstairs room.

In your plan, https://www.dongardner.com/house-plan/1420/the-miranda, it will need to be a bit more than 7' if you want to keep the porch. Personally, I would just extend the interior into the garage some and make a larger master, mud, laundry. Then add about 10' to garage.

In your plan, https://www.dongardner.com/house-plan/1420/the-miranda, it will need to be a bit more than 7' if you want to keep the porch

Yeah, you'll essentially need to add something like 12' to make this happen -- this definitely protrudes your garage far-far out in front of the house.

Snout garages are NEVER the first choice of a skilled professional response to a site. Unless that site is a 50’ wide city lot that only allows a front load garage. The no front yard look is not really a good one at all. Unless the house itself is on the city street property line in an even more urban situation than a mere front load garage response.

Are you planning on having Don Gardener alter the design?

They will help you avoid the deadly trap of an overabundance of materials, shapes and finishes...