I have one of those pocket thingies that is metal, fits flat to the door with a handle (pocketbook plant holder?) and I change it out by the seasons. It was white when I purchased it but I gave it a glaze to make it brownish so that it looks more like my door. I have a glass that sits down inside it and I can use fresh flowers when I think about it, or silks by season, unless I find something else I like :) Sometimes being a garden club member has its con's. I tend to see things people make and like to make them myself. I lack the imagination Les has, so when I go to garden club and see someone else's, I can draw on their designs and use different florals, etc. Have you tried www.petals.com or www.silkflowers.com I have bought "stuff" from both and have been very pleased.

Thanks to one and all; I appreciate all the ideas. We are going with a retractable screen, which ever door we choose. I really like, and need, the PetScreen option, especially for the screens for the front two casement side windows. Lukkiirish - Can you tell me why your are only "fairly happy" with your retractable screen storm door? I'm hoping for "ecstatically happy!" LOL VicsGirl, You too sweet with your comments on my Little House of Horrors on the Prairie. The gardens are still "in progress, and the right-hand part won't be planted this year. DH just dumped a trailer load of horse stable compost and freshly cut grass all over it. I'm smoothing it out, watering, and letting it settle before putting some of my perennials in this fall. PammyFay, the glass in this door has five (or seven?) different textures and patterns of 'clear' glass. The metal is a dark grey, and the three "tulip blossoms" are the most beautiful, dark red with a wavy, watery texture. If the sections of glass under the tulips had been dark green it would be beyond perfect! The glass is 90-95% opaque, but the sunlight coming through it is so fractured and intense it's nearly impossible to photograph. The window is very sparkly! The siding is steel, and bomb proof. Ugly, but strong. It's too sturdy to consider replacing with something that wouldn't be as tough. We have toyed with the idea of painting it. IF we do paint, or re-side, the house would be a pale sage green, or a rich tan. We picked the roof and door to go with either color if we stay here long enough to change it. DH built the deck when we needed to replace the front steps. He chose everything and especially wanted the floor boards set at the 45-degree angles and the black railings. I wanted it 8' wide. These photos makes the door and red glass look darker than they are, but you get the idea of the glass textures. This particular glass style has been discontinued. Garden in progress, the borders are subject to rearrangement, again, maybe. The raised garden on the south (left) side of the house is 8' wide and 23" long.

One suggestion would be a trio of wreaths for your door. The two planters/urns in your first photo look nice. You could add some lights to them. Maybe lights on the two trees flanking the entry. Those battery-powered fairy lights come in handy for wreaths, planters and just about anything else. They're on very flexible thin wire and easy to weave, spiral or arrange any way you like.

Is that real brick? It almost looks like some kind of panel made to resemble brick. If it is real, often they just did a thin veneer of brick on only a portion of the house to save money (as if we'll never see the house from the sides? what were they thinking?) Either way they can be removed/ replaced with more harmonious / congruous siding.... whenever it comes time to paint, not right now. If you do a pergola or new porch, keep it simple and in harmony with modest post WW2 1950s style. Your house is not the early 1900s or craftsman-esque style pictured above, and houses start looking like frankenstein houses when they have too many styles from different eras cobbled together. You should find that a lot of contemporary style will mesh quite nicely with your house - since it draws so heavily from that era. The conventional wisdom is to live in the house for a year before doing anything irreversible, but I dont that applies to tacked-on temporary things like awnings and such. Have fun!