Are you putting stone or brick on top of the concrete on the porch? If so that could account for the extra height that is there now and when the stone or brick is down it will be shorter.

What about a pergola extending from the left side of the house to the second floor bump out on the right? The section above the door could have a solid roof for weather protection, while the rest is open to allow light into the window. Or you could make a gable portico over the door and extend the pergola to the left off of that. You could do one over the garage as well but that might be too much, and to me adding dimension on the left is important. Properly sized shutters would actually work quite nicely here Someday :) With the style of the new garage door that would push your house a bit toward farmhouse.

To me, the floorpan seems to make sense as it is. You could extend the bath slightly into the bedroom to give you a longer countertop space, about where the wall of bedroom2 runs, but you need to know if that works with your bedroom furniture. You could also slide the shower over to the back part of your closet, accessed from the shorter end, to slide to toilet down and have more countertop. It depends on your priorities.

@3onthetree thank you so much for taking the time to clarify the dip. I've checked and I think it's ok (at least from my non-expert viewpoint!). I don't see it or don't feel it when I walk. The concrete is still drying so I'm hoping/guessing it's the photo. Thank you for sharing that it's ok to allow aesthetics to supercede function sometimes. I was beginning to think I was crazy for doing this but I really love this look. I knew going into this that we would lose some function and I also know the gravel will spill out and will probably be somewhat annoying. But I'm willing to live with this as I really wanted this aesthetic. I suppose I just wish I'd taken the separation into account more for the step down from the porch (not just the stride), and then I would have focused more on the step height issue prior to pouring. Lesson learned for next time :-) Thank you again.