newhomebuilder - Thx for your input! Yes, we will add 8 ft off the end of the porch. My DH put in the planter around the porch; he will redo the section at the end after it's enlarged. We'll need to move the roses & perennials. Our yard on the side of the house where they'll bring in equipment needs re-landscaping anyway, so no biggie if they trample it some. But yes, it's work! Our screened porch needs repair, so we figured it's a good time to upgrade. Yes, we will open the porch during the summer. No a/c is planned for now. We will put in 2 ceiling fans. We have one now; it provides a lot of cooling. The plan is to have some kind of heating (perhaps simple baseboard) to extend the usage of the porch into the late fall & even winter (we are in the Midwest). The plexiglass option is a good one. It will be nice to extend the usage period of your porch! I actually wanted to use stock storm doors to enclose the porch, removing the glass in the warm seasons. But DH doesn't want to remove/store/replace the storms each year. So, we're going to bite the bullet and add the windows. We have a good contractor who is very reasonable, & the windows are on sale now, so that helps. But still a sizable chunk, and I'm sweating the decision about the grilles!

My wife had a window fashion business, I'm an engineer. I would sometimes get 'roped' into going on complicated sales calls - like 3 season porches. IMO - if not designed into the structure initially, most are white elephants. The addition of the porch makes the adjacent rooms dark. So the people use the sun room, don't use their living room, and many pile boxes of stuff in the living room. Then there is the HVAC problem. It's a bad idea - and in your case the roof will be problematic.

All too soon your little guy will be grown out of these toys and life will change. Maybe the bulk of the toys needs to be stored in his room, if it bothers you that they occupy so much space in this room. Kids things need to be constantly edited to get rid of the junk and the stuff that is outgrown. Maybe he has too much stuff. It starts early in life. Too much stuff is not always a good thing. Sometime there is more quality play when there is not so much quantity. And, sometimes, with kids toys, opening the box that it came in is really the best part. After the parts and pieces get scattered and scribbled on, and you can no longer find that Mickey Mouse head that goes on there and the play dough has dried up inside of that tube and the Paw Patrol guys have been thrown into that basket while their respective vehicles are on the back seat of the car, the toy is not that interesting. Other than that, it looks like a room where a family spends time. It will change. You will change. He will grow up. You will grow old. Relax and let it be. Maybe put some of those things in his room and put away the art supplies somewhere else. Otherwise, consider it kid/family decor. I do quite like the dinosaur on the window sill! Someday, both the dinosaur and the little boy who put him there will have moved on. My grandson is seven years old now and the living room was a big toy box for him until I one day cleaned up and moved it all to his room. His parents did not realize that it was that time until I took the initiative and did it. That was some time ago and the mess of stuff has stayed in his room The reason is that he has grown out of most of those things and does not drag them out. Now, if I could just convince them that it is time to make his room a big boy room and get the excess junk out of there, too!

Windows are definitely a good idea, and I would use ones that can be opened.