Chicagoans - thanks for the feedback! There are actually two windows that aren't parallel to the garage - one on either side of the entertainment area... and then yes, the window next to the dining table. I think one was missing and/or only one was barely showing up on that image above. I feel like I will get some lovely evening sun glow in our living room that is not blocked by the garage. Also, the kitchen windows will be long and the base will meet my countertop - not sure if that changes how you feel about them but when you said "top of the kitchen wall" that made me think of teeny short windows! There are a couple of sun tunnels and one skylight not noted in my floorplanner.com draft above, but I intend to keep them from the original plan. My focus here was/is on room layout, particularly the front door (as you may have read, haha.) ascorsonelli - totally not how I'm laying out my furniture, ha! it is to scale, and that is the main reason I dropped it in there (at that point a couple days ago) - to get an idea of the space. I LOVE your idea toooo! Stealing from the porch, that's great. And the door faces the direction someone will be coming from. Thank you! doc5md - your photography club did sound drab at first! (ETA when I re-read your comment:) I really enjoyed my photography courses and critiques. My professor was so hard on me about some things like zooming in too much on a subject (not giving him the "whole picture" of what was going on) or my print quality (dark room was not so easy for me - I'm a digital girl.) He was also a kind man and saw something special and interesting in every photo.(end ETA) I remember some intense critiques while working on my bachelors, as well as some heated meetings with my colleagues and superiors at my first "real world" corporate job where my pixel perfect designs were put on blast on a projector in a room full of people with years of experience on me. It hurt sometimes, they were right sometimes, and they were wrong sometimes. But when someone there is that "negative nancy"... well, you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Maybe it's a southern thing, but we're nice, even when we're criticizing. Most of us are anyway. Thank you for the good luck! I can see where I seemed like sour puss just looking for praise when you took my words out of context like that.

Julie--thank you so much for the ideas! Great name btw--lol. I really like the idea of painting the inside of the front door black...would match the stair rail. Where are the step runners from? I like the patterns! Do you think the stair carpet pads and the hallway runner should match or complement each other...matching would be easier for me. I found a light from Bellacor that I think I like for the hallway and would complement the ones we have in the kitchen (the darlana mini lantern). What do you think? http://www.bellacor.com/productdetail/minka-lavery-3296-613-audreys-point-polished-nickel-four-light-semi-flush-mount-1742532.htm Thank you! Julie

An architect would be a good idea. You may be able to extend the roofline from the upper story toward the front door, acting as a porch roof. Then build a wider porch, perhaps using the bricks you'll remove from the planter. An arborist can help with identifying the trees that would best be removed. Will this be your personal residence or will you be selling when finished with the remodel?

here is the proposed exterior. We don't love the big blank wall in the front to the right of the window. Also, it seems like a lot of zig zags across the roof line.