K, Our front porch is the neighborhood meeting place. If you can add one to your home, no doubt you will enjoy the benefits. Here are some features I recommend: electrical outlets on both sides of the door for holiday decorations, ceiling fans, recessed lighting on a dimmer to create the right ambiance and have it wired for sound. Good Luck. Jack

Congrats on your new home! It will be charming. I think the awning spoils the lines of the house, and doesn't let you see the interesting angles of the brickwork. I would take it down. However, if you think it is really of benefit and you want to keep it, I would paint it the same color as the siding OR the same color as the roof. I would also paint the brown wood the siding color - it makes the front windows feel like they are sitting in a hole, and doesn't really do anything special for the house. I would also love to see you take out those bushes in front of the porch. They really date the house, and exposing that brick and stone would give the front porch more substance. A wider, curved bed in front of that with low plantings would be nice, and then perhaps a larger evergreen on the left corner of the porch. A second curved out bed in front of the left half of the house, perhaps a birdbath in the middle of the bed, and then a small tree of some kind on the left outside corner of the house, but a bit away and in the final curved planting area out even a bit more into the yard there. The ironwork is also a dated look, but I don't know if you want to replace that right now. Personally, I might take out the pieces in between the vertical posts, and open up the front porch even more. I think I would leave it white, like the rest of the trim on the house. Finally, I would think about a strong accent color for the front door. A rich navy would be very pretty, and a good transition between the cool grey tones in the roof and the warmer yellows and oranges of the brick and siding.

I agree with many of these comments. Your house is charming as it is! We just sold a ranch home that I wanted desperately to add a larger front porch and/or more interesting roof line to. In the end, we didn't. And wouldn't you know maintaining the structural and aesthetic integrity of what our home originally was (even if that wasn't on trend) is what brought us a cash buyer in 3 days at over asking price. I do think that option 1 from the architect is a nice look though.

You mean you want to add a front porch in front of the front porch that was enclosed to make more living space? I would extend the existing roof line out and basically recreate the trim above the windows and door and the tapered columns. You would also need to remove and add new steps. I would check with the local planning department as you might need a variance to extend the porch. I think you could end up with a look you would be happy with. It's not going to be cheap though. If you're interested in seeing how a porch addition might look on your house check out my web site, Creative Visual Concepts.