I don't know about your climate but my parents have a cape cod style house with no front porch and a wood door with sidelights and it is going strong after many years. If you want a saltbox style house, a porch wouldn't fit very well I wouldn't think. I was also thinking you could recess the door a bit and panel the sides of the recess (you see this a lot with Georgians) but I was thinking you wanted a georgian style house not a Saltbox style one . . . Are you doing brick or siding? If you are doing brick, you could recess the door a bit into your anteroom (this could leave an area for closets on either side which you could make attractive - I'll try to find a picture), but you would lose some of the focus of the spiderweb look. I think this other look is equally attractive and can be really beautiful but it may not be what you are looking for. It would protect the door more though!

Being on the south side you want something that can tolerate heat. I have flower beds in full sun like yours so I'll try to tell you what I have success with. You can't go wrong with Magellan Zinnias or any zinnias really but I just love the Magellan series. They have huge 4 inch flowers on a 12 inch plant. Marigolds would do well there. They can take the heat and keep on blooming. Janie is only 8 inches high and has a profusion of blooms. I like Janie Yellow but there are many dwarf varieties in varying colors. Zonal Geraniums may be a bit taller but can take the heat and don't mind drying out. Portulaca(often called moss rose for it's rose like flowers) is a low growing annual that loves the heat. As a bonus it will drop seeds and come back another year or you can collect seeds from it. It comes in many colors and makes a terrific edging. I wouldn't plant petunias there

Re: painting, just remember this is not a room it is your exterior. Whatever color you paint it should go on your other exterior (non brick not trim) surfaces unless you close it in and screen/wall it. Just for fun, I really love this where steps go all the way around instead of railings. My deck is like this, I love it. It would look great in brick like this, with the brick pillar as well. Also like these, although any work like this seems like a great opportunity to face the stairs to the street as has been mentioned : ^^ no double columns for you (too fancy) but I love the brick walls and stair railings ^^Forget the style of the beams but the brick pillars at base of stair with white/cream railing returning to simple white posts would be nice What not to do: bulky pillars are all wrong for the house^^ ^^awesome with simple railing

I love front facing gable trim to “outline” the house. Don’t paint the metal roof! and don’t change the front door color. It’s the window trim which needs attention. Paint the window trim and all the trim the same as the metal roof. And the vinyl applied “vents” on each gable, those should be removed.