I have a tendency to agree with harry shoe on this one. Arborvitae might be a good choice for a screening but be careful which variety you get or even which individual plant you get. Some arborvitae have a single leading trunk while other have multi-leading trunks. The ones with the multi-leading trunk will have a tendency to split and part of them begin to bend over, making the plants ugly. My Husband used to bind them together with bungy-cords to keep them looking uniform. I think when we moved, we left a dozen or so bungy-cords behind. Leyland Cypress might be a good choice and will tolerate prunning. But they are also a larger plant. Arborvitae is a narrow tree with a narrow root system and the right tree would be less work. I like the idea of the cherry laural too, but that would be more work to keep them in line, especially if you have a narrow space.

Wow, beautiful! I agree that it's best to choose what you'll actually use. For us it's a couple of rockers and a few wood frame armchairs. They all get regularly pulled into a circle for chatting; in fact they are in use at the moment! So for our use I would do two rockers on one side and either two chairs or a loveseat on the other, so larger groups can gather in if desired. You can't move a swing, and it requires do much clearance that it would be hard to group chairs around it on your porch. I could see a pretty rust orange or gold (not metallic) with your brick and posts.

I'm far from a pro, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt. I think the black metal spindles with white horizontal pieces would look nice. By "turned" I mean like you currently have with curvy shapes on the upright (newel posts?). Turned seems to be a style that is not your house. If you were unsure about white vs. wood, maybe it could be installed as wood and then paint later? That said, as other folks have suggested -- a careful and accurate drawing of what you are considering may be very helpful to visualize the overall look. I don't know how to explain it, but maybe its like adding a scarf to an outfit. If you wear it as a belt, it always looks like you're wearing a scarf, as a belt, which is what folks were trying to say about "don't make it look like a backyard deck, stuck on the front of your house." There's lots of options where it can be a handsome deck/front porch, and enhance the appearance of your house as the main entry to your home (and also provide space for sitting out front). Good luck!

Interesting idea, covering the steps with pavers. That would bring the height of each step up if you put the pavers on the step surface. You could get one and measure the new surface height. 7 inches is standard. YouTube videos you can watch. Here's one.- Look for the part that might apply to your steps. Not rocket surgery.