We are considering painting the side of each post that faces out to match the house trim, which is beige, and staining the three sides that are inside the screens to match the wood ceiling. I think this is our best idea so far, but I'm slightly concerned it may look odd when standing outside the screen porch looking in. If you've seen this done, how did it look? I'd also love to see photos if you have any.

Yo, Your looking at a bit of work to remove the stucco with no guarantee of what you will find underneath it. Have you considered putting a wall over the stucco? May be quicker, cleaner and a lot less work.

Cpaul how was that helpful? That's what this forum is for. If you can't offer any suggestions to the poster maybe it would be best to leave it to others. I'd use art. How wide is that back wall and how tall are your ceilings? I'm thinking 11x14 frames would be too small. Maybe 16x20 matted to 11x14. Whatever you go with just go BIG. I think Overstock has some large prints/art/canvas pieces that maybe you could find something large enough to work. Or you could possibly make some prints. Purchase or find free art online and you can send them to a Staples and have different sizes made then frame them yourself. If you can find a mat and don't want to spend a bunch you could have the background of the frame solid and place (with painters tape) the photo on top. It still gives the illusion that it's matted. All depends how much you're looking to spend.

[...] I'm a bit devastated about having a roof right outside those sliders. I totally would be, too, Hon. <3 Upgrading to a covered porch, right off our family room, was an option our tract builder offered that we declined. Seems like every other house in the neighborhood has it. But. I carefully selected the lot, to allow for maximum southern and eastern sunshine to enter the house. The family room has eastern and southern windows, and the covered area would've blocked eastern light. I am SO glad we didn't cover that area. In the morning, it feels great to open the blinds and *flood* the room with sunshine. It's such a happy start to the day. Occasionally, my husband expresses regret that we didn't cover that space, since it would've made the area immediately outside the house "done," instead of requiring a deck. We had discussed it at the time, so we knew we were facing that pro vs con thing. I remind him that we would've lost the natural light coming into the family room on that entire side, and that a nice deck is waaay prettier than a slab of concrete patio. ;-) From the picture, it looks like your kitchen's *sole* source of kinda-direct sunshine is that back slider. That would absolutely, 100% seal the deal for both my husband and me -- No covered anything over there! Every time my guy and I talk about "the next house" he almost always says he wants more/bigger windows in the kitchen, *specifically*. Once in awhile he tells me that he's glad I was a bit of a brat when I insisted on building a plan with a kitchen window (a bit of a rarity in our neighborhood), especially one that faces south. :-D You and I seem to prioritize a lot of the same things, Miss Anj. I'm thinking that if y'all decide to cover that space, it'll pain you just a tiny bit, every time you have to turn on the kitchen lights in the middle of the day. :-(