Thanks for the smart points about rain, klem. And I agree -- there are just so many options, and people are so opinionated about those options, that it's hard to know what to do. My biggest concern remains the weather and how that will affect things, but I know that's a local issue. Maybe I should walk around the neighborhood and survey some people with porches about the sun and the temp, etc. Without adding any new information, my wife and I are divided on what to do -- she thinks just screening it is fine, but I think it would be really nice to have glass for the late fall / winter. If we had to decide today, I think we would either do simple / cheap modern storm windows (which could be opened to the screen on the bottom half during the summer) or do something a bit more adventurous. What I'm thinking on the adventurous front is to screen it in, but do it in a way where there's space to add the old-style wooden storm windows later -- just simple single-pane units that slide into the windo frames and attach with this: http://www.houseofantiquehardware.com/screen-hooks-storm-sash-window-hanger?sc=12&category=91 . The main thing would be attaching the screen on the inside of the frames, or at least creating an outside sill deep enough for the storm windows to nestle within it and still be flush on the outside. Then we could remove the storm windows and store them in the garage during the summer (though that wouldn't help with rainstorms you mention). Does that make any sense? If we did that, we could see how we like the screen in the spring and summer, but add the glass later in an affordable and removable fashion. I haven't seen many people try this, but I think we could build the storm frames and get the glass cut by a local shop. Basically we would recreate something like this company's product: http://chicagogreenwindows.com/storm-window-primer/

We used to have a storm door that the screen always stayed in, but the plexiglass (or whatever it was -it wasnt heavy glass) was in a frame that we would mount on the door in winter and take off during the summer. It was easy to put on the door and had little hardware that turned to go over the frame and hold it. I am unaware of any ready made product on the market like that for porches, but I think it would be reasonably easy to make.

I have a day bed coming on Friday and I got a chase that looks a bit Victorian just randomly in the middle right now and a pub style table that I just painted white to also put somewhere in there. But I want to add bright color decor, lime green, turquoise, orange accents and keep the big pieces daybed, chase, table and curtains light and creamy colors to make as comfy as possible.

There are companies that specialize in converting covered porches or screened-in porches into 3 season rooms. We just bought a house that was initially constructed with a covered porch on the back side of the house, and the prior owners used a company like this one (link below) to convert it into a 3 season room. I absolutely adore the 3 season room, it was one of the best features of the house. 2 sides of it are basically all glass, mine looks almost identical to the last before/after photo in the link below. I adore sitting out there. I have no idea if this company is any good - it's just the first link Google came up with for me as an example to share. https://www.patioenclosures.com/patio-and-porch-conversions-before-and-after.aspx