The inspiration photos are all basically sunrooms made from enclosed porches. If you want a sunroom look, use as many windows as possible (and be prepared to figure out how to keep it warm). If you want more of an "addition" look, use two, three or four windows including one on the side. Windows the same style and similar proportions as the ones you have now may look pretty good. If you put in some time with Google's Sketchup, you can experiment with options. You can also hire an architect at some point, of course.

I'll start with a couple of tips.

Your slab is concrete, cement is a component of concrete.

Your peak is called a gable.

For the best suggestions, it would be helpful to know more about the house and project.

What will the space be used for?

How will the existing rooms be affected?

Is the slab designed to support the addition? Is there any sort of foundation under the slab?

Have you checked with your city/town to verify this addition is allowed?

I see the slab is several steps down from the house floor. Are you planning on a new floor structure to eliminate this difference?

I don't understand how the house sits in relation to the street. A picture from further away showing the house and its surroundings will help.

This is not to scale, but it seems like a large part of the addition will function as a path to the existing front door.

Tell us more about your plans for the space, and maybe include a sketch of the existing first floor.

Thank you so much for your tips and interest. I would like to use this as an entryway to catch shoes and coats, plus additional living space, but the far side would most likely just be used for sitting or entertaining in a more sunny room (we do not have many windows in the house and they are not oriented to capture maximum light). We won't even be putting a tv out there. The current door opens into my kitchen, so I am falling over shoes every day and our coats beside the door trap cooking smells. I've long wanted an enclosed entrance to resolve that issue. My dad (who built a garage, shop, showroom, and helped build houses) offered to help us build this, so I don't have a designer to help me with the aesthetics.

I have a call in to the inspector our town uses for building permits, so I'm working on the legal aspect to make sure we have approval, and he or the code enforcer will be looking at the slab. Measuring at the long edge of the porch, the slab is is 5" thick at the top, then it "indents" an inch or so, and it's at least 2 inches thick under that, and a bit thicker where the ground slopes down a bit at the far end. There are no cracks or anything that would cause one to think it was compromised. There is no basement beneath it, and I don't know if anything else was poured below ground level. It has been there a long time (as evidenced by the style of the aluminum roof). The dimensions are 22.5' by 9.5'.

Unless I'm told it's a bad idea, we were planning on putting some type of vapor barrier, insulation board, then plywood subfloor, probably vinyl plank flooring (or hardwood if I can manage the funds.) I haven't gotten specifics from my dad, so this might not be exactly right, but it's my impression of the rough plan. We are not going to eliminate the difference in floor levels because we'd have to raise the roof quite a bit higher to compensate. We will just have a step up into the house.

Originally, I planned to keep the door into the kitchen, but I would now prefer to wall off the kitchen door and put the interior opening where the window currently is (preferably a doorless opening, but if we have to do it as a 3 season room due to codes, we will obviously put a door there). On my rough sketch (which is not at all to scale), I put dark rectangles where the doors are, and one where the window is on the porch which I would turn into the door.

We live in town, but our street dead ends at our house (long ago, it passed parallel to the house on the kitchen side). Our garage wall is 14 feet from the edge of the porch, which is why I couldn't get a straight on photo of the house. For my first house photo, I was standing on the blacktop pad in front of my garage. The sidewalk approaches the house from were the road once was, but we park our car at that dead end now. So the orientation of the photo is how visitors would see the house when they park on the street and approach it.

I'm thinking I might just have to go with a sunroom style look because I just can't see it looking good with less windows. Any advice on how to make it look good is greatly appreciated.

I know how wanting more space and looking at that slab thinking 3 walls and a roof -- how easy would that be.

I'm going to suggest you start by drawing your home (the first floor) to scale. Include kitchen cabinets, furniture, tables and chairs, windows and doors, and anything else that is fixed in place.

This addition should solve a clearly defined problem, or problems, and should be an overall improvement. Think about what would make the existing space better -- and not about filling up the proposed addition. Don't force your ideas so they fit within the new space, but instead think as if the porch was not there.

What direction does the house face?

The porch side faces north.