Sounds like we are not alone in this endeavor!! To remodeler matt agree about the overhang/landscape- I do like the ThermaTru doors, however, at least in our area, with sidelites, they run close to $2500. But, ThermaTru does a very beautiful fiberglass that mimicks wood so well!! All new construction in our area uses them. This is why there are so few ranches, 'cause they are all levelled and turned into mini-mansions - yes, I am not a fan of this. Simpson is another door that i like the look of, but it is wood, and also more expensive. Peachtree was bought by Weathershield, unfortunately, cannot find any doors to look at. Menards and Hines lumber can order both, but do not have any on display. In response to Marge - the mahogony door sounds amazing, but quite a challenge. The new front door we are putting in is in the space that is currently our front yard. As P.Carol pointed out, because ranches are so structurally simple, it is a challenge. I just think that the front door does make a statement, and we are also changing the brick - currently have painted white brick (a criminal act to paint brick in my opinion), so are rebricking the house, too. So we are looking for something that is attractive and understated, but gives character to a very simple ranch. We are leaning toward the "french door" look as you did - not full, either half or 3/4 window with muntins because all our windows have muntins, too. We are adding 14 feet from where the current front door stands, so perhaps lots of window will be ok?? Any more ranch owners out there?

If you want an entry area, put up a wall and have one. We have a home now where someone knocked out the wall between the nice entry and the living room and we basically put the wall back with a shoe bench and shelf arrangement (freestanding because we didn’t want to do construction work) because it just flows better that way. We also just looked at another house which we decided not to go for after much deliberation in part because if we opened it up to get much needed space, we’d end up with a big box with the front door entering right into everything, like a small apartment layout. Houses, especially houses with kids and lots of visitors, need some way to control the flow of traffic and direct people to where they should take off coats and boots and what have you. If you have room for a mud room, great, but if not - entry area is a necessity, IMO. And people are going to be beyond bored with HGTV style everything probably sooner rather than later - next year or the year after it’ll be some other designer and they will be putting walls up because everyone is sick of open plan and always being on display while cooking. If this is your forever home then do what you like and what feels good to you, not what’s popular on HGTV. (If you were going to flip the house then I might be saying something different.) Personally, if my front door were that close to my kitchen, I’d really really really want some kind of wall for privacy. Who wants all your mid-meal cooking mess to be on display to anyone who comes to the door?

People have storm doors because, they open doors and pull down the screen for air. A storm door has a security lock on it, for safety. Phantom screens are wrecked by children and pets go right through them and can escape your property and end lost or worse. I personally, would never ever be without storm doors on my house. I have very nice wood doors, and they are original to the house and still in excellent condition because they were protected with storm doors.

Oh wow, it's really hidden! lol Your furniture plan for the porch sounds lovely and I imaging having the door tucked away adds a nice sense of privacy and security. What about removing/relocating the bushes in front of the porch? Removing them might make the space look larger and more welcoming where as now they seem to make the space small and dark. Maybe swap them for some flowerbeds. It doesn't sound like you'd want to take on awindow-to-door conversion but it would look really great if you did. You've got a lot of space from an exterior view and having the steps lead up to the door would look very welcoming. You'd also have to consider what's on the other side of the wall and how that would affect the layout of your porch furniture, too (I'm sure you've already thought of that though). You've got a beautiful home, I'm sure whatever you decide it'll look great. Good luck! - Ariana