Really nice home. I confess to being prejudice toward porches and being uncomfortable steeping out a door onto a top step. Others, however, may not find the steps as awkward.

Do consider a 6'' - 8' front porch, across the right (brick) wing of the house.

If the steps were bought preformed and are "hollow" beneath them, it might be possible to move them and reuse them.

If you're rebuilding new steps, you might consider "L" shaped steps, adding a landing and turning the bottom pair of steps toward the driveway.

Is there a basement with a window on the left side of the house? If so, consider extending your front block wall of the new porch (level) all the way across the front of the porch. A hedge planted in front of that wall would provide privacy for the basement area but that far away from the window would not block all the light from entering it.

In lieu of discarding the wood which appears to be a wall/planter, consider creating a deck over the open space in front of the basement that would serve as an arbor for the downstairs as well as a deck for the main floor level.

If you're replacing the window in the brick part with a bay window, consider an 8' deep porch.

Not fan of the shutters

Our ouse is a walkout at the back so we have a 300 square foot porch on the upper level and also a similar sized patio on the bottom level. I don't think we would get much use from another deck in the front. We have a walkway in the front to the driveway. I also hate the shutters. When we need a new roof I would prefer grey or black but I don't want to replace just for esthetics. The back and sides are also siding. I would love suggestions on what you think about siding colours and what would go with the brick or to replace the brick with something else. The left side has the septic infront so we can't put anything in front of it. The little porch comes in really handy in the winter as we get a crazy amount of snow.

The front door and steps would be very scary for me. I would almost certainly fall down them because there's no landing at the top. People generally anticipate a landing IMO.

I'd want a little porch over the front door. How do you get to the front door, incidentally? I don't see a path?

Leave the brick as is for now. It balances out the roof color. Once you come to get a new roof, re-decide.

Yes, take off the shutters. Although those shutter proportions have been a style for decades, your home would do better without them. IMO

At the top of the stairs is a landing with a little room then my front door. There is a glass door at the top going into the landing as we get so much snow without the door that room would just fill up with drifts. There is a concrete walkway to the driveway at the bottom of the stairs pictured above.