Thanks for the advice so far. I agree about DIYing, and that a change in the porch would be great. However, there are a few issues with making changes, so if you remodeling-minded folks have some suggests I would appreciate it so much. I apologize for describing this in probably a sub-par way, but hopefully you can understand what I'm about to say... The big problem we see with taking down the porch wall and replacing it with railing is that the porch wall has a depth to it (maybe, say 6-8 inches). When we take out the wall, there will be an area that will not have the trex flooring on it. Now, for the front wall that is not a huge issue because it is probably the right depth to simply add another row of trex. That is no problem IF we can find trex that matches the one we have now (which I'm not sure we could). But when the SIDE WALLS come down, there will be 6-8 inches of EACH row missing trex. If I simply cut that length of trex and put it down in the spot where the wall was, there will be an awkward "seam" of new short trex pieces. Of course I could rip out all of the flooring and start over which would alleviate this problem, but the flooring is only a few years old and I assume that would be expensive. Any thoughts on how I could do this and make it look good? Am I missing a simple solution? (I don't have much of any reno experience!) Thanks!

Funny that you both have the same example. We are not happy with the quality of our French doors we custom ordered through Home Depot so we don't want to order from them again. I love the door in your example but I'm also loving doors like this one I see on Pinterest but don't know where to order one. Not sure I'm comfortable with getting one off eBay either.

I would add some skirting under the deck, then paint the railings white to match the house trim (the siding color looks great in your tree filled lot). I think that weathered wood is what is dragging it down. If you don't want to paint the porch rails white, then stain them a color that refreshes them. Or paint them black! Look at the ideas for stone facing as a skirting. It would really provide a finished look. You don't have to use real stone...there are fake stone panels that would look good. Lattice can look really cheesy, but they even show some refined lattice panels that look great. Then improve your landscaping in front of the deck with some flowering and evergreen shrubs to minimize the look of the skirting. Here are some ideas for skirting on Pinterest...if you don't have an account, I think you have to open one to see the pics, but there are great ideas there. https://www.pinterest.com/explore/deck-skirting/?lp=true Red looks wonderful with the color of your siding, so I'd put some big pots of red geraniums (or maybe big red pots with colorful flowers) on the deck. You could add "window" boxes on the deck railing, too, filled with flowers. I think a colorful door would enhance the color of your siding (esp if you take care of the dull rails/porch) not make it more dull. I'm going to push red again, but almost any color of blue, some yellows, or BLACK would look stunning!

If you decide to paint the siding the color of the brick, do be careful and try out some big sample boards. There are a few examples in my neighborhood of attempted matching that was "off", and it isn't a good look. Matching is challenging with the difference in textures between the brick and the siding.