IMHO a glass door with sidelights and transom between the ante room and foyer would be lovely and bring more natural light into your foyer. And since you're planning to make the ante room pretty, you may as well show it off! However one consideration is how much someone would be able to see from the front door through to the foyer and beyond. If the doors are lined up and it would bother you to have someone looking through, then you might consider frosted / waved / textured glass for the outer sidelights.

I'm brand new on the Home forum, just wandered in from the Garden, so hope you won't mind me adding my two cents' worth. According to the Feng Shui book I have, the best colors for a south-facing door are bright green, dark green, blue, purple or black ... so your forest green sounds like a good choice from that perspective (so was the eggplant suggestion). One word of caution, though: Check the warranty on the door carefully. When I wanted to stain our new front door (also south-facing) a deep brown our contractor pointed out that a dark finish, whether painted or stained, would void the warranty on this solid wood door, as it absorbs so much heat. After several years of a plain white door (not bad on a house with dark brown natural cedar shakes, but it just didn't feel "right") I painted it a soft sage green and added a brass kickplate and love it. The sage blends with the entry foyer, living room and dining room and is a perfect backdrop for the various wreaths throughout the seasons; a brass kickplate really does dress it up unbelievably. Your house is classic, adorable and so well-kept; it's going to look charming when you get your plantings finished, but don't rush it ... are houses and gardens ever really "done"? Ours are still evolving after 29 years. I'd agree that softening the foundation and adding window boxes, hanging planters, and cottage-style gardens would be lovely, as long as they are in keeping with your preferences and lifestyle. Enjoy the process! Looking forward to seeing your "after" photos next spring. Diane

Changes like this should be well thought out and planned -- preferably with the help of a design professional. It's key that changes and additions appear integrated and not as an afterthought, and enhance, rather than detract from the overall design. I don't see this porch working with the house. You might also check the rise going from step to step as the picture seems to show a difference between the middle and top tread.

Yes it actually works out very well and IMHO the proportions look better on an old house. We had a big front door and sidelites and replaced with a pair of French doors for light and views. I’ll try to find a pic. See if your existing rough opening is 5’-4” wide, use the entire width for the new pair of doors. You say the door is close to a wall inside, you can make that side the passive door. We added surface mounted head and foot bolts to seal the door closed at the top and bottom since we did not use the manufacturer’s multi point lock hardware. The original wood door rotted and leaked, ruined the floor and subfloor in the door area. The replacement doors never had a problem with water or air intrusion. When we moved large furniture in and out we opened both doors, but that was rare. Just be aware there is a possible building code issue though if this is considered the home’s egress door, depending on how the code official interprets the IRC language about what counts as clear passage. Some interpretations are that an active panel door smaller than 3’ wide is not sufficient to meet 32” wide clearance, and that the passive door can’t be included in the width, some say it can. Usually there is a back or side door that can be the 3’ egress door of the house.