You said you like to sit on porch mornings and after work (evenings). And you must be living in the south (y'all). Before you do a front porch of any sort consider where the sun falls in both parts of the day. Your yard appears to have tall trees. Maybe a back porch for sitting would give you more options for shade.

Something similar to this is what I picture

http://houzz.com/photos/331215

Here's another nice option but you'd have to adjust where stairs enter for your porch.

http://houzz.com/photos/4893918

We added this front seating area to this vacation rental and everyone loves sitting on this patio. There is also an entry porch/seating area above it. You could do a covered entry porch and then step down to a lower sitting area in front of the window. It could be a nice mix of either concrete or decking materials with landscaping. This patio is more traditional in style, but you can make yours more modern with a rectangular shape deck or patio with modern planter boxes. The planter boxes would provide a discreet barrier between you and the street (assuming you face a street).




Here is an idea book with some planter box ideas:

http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/30025122/thumbs/Creating-Style-with-Planter-Boxes

Did you add the porch? I would love to see what you did. Please post a picture.