Some of you have seen this plan before. It's evolving with the help of Houzz input, for which we are most grateful. The front door is a French door 9' wide with three working panel doors. The French door is centered on the indented wall and flanked by 4 feet on each side. Our current dilemma is adding handrails to the two step cement porch. The porch will 6' deep, although my amateur mockup shows much less. Legally, we do not need to use a railing. However, this is our retirement home and so desire a little more support going up and down the steps. Here are the options as we see it:

1) Sink posts into the cement steps even with the sides of the French door.

2) Sink posts into the cement steps next to the side walls.

3) Attach railings to the side walls instead of sinking into the steps.

The siding will be Smartside engineered wood and the indented wall will be Versetta stone, in case that matters. We live in snowy Minnesota, which is why option #3 holds appeal--no need to shovel around posts.

So...thoughts? Ideas? Anything we're overlooking?