You really could do several materials. It looks like your house is siding, so brick might look out of place, but concrete would work, although it's not nearly as decorative. It also seems like you'd want to extend it over to the left side of the door some, too. Wood is another options, although that has some maintenance issues, but if it's covered it might not be too bad. Concrete with slate over top?

It's hard to take a guess with not seeing much more. What style is the house? What sort of landscaping do you have?

You know, I'm not quite sure what style it is. Maybe you could help me with that too ;) Here are a couple more pics. The flowering tree at the rear right of the lot has been replaced with bamboo and a couple of Japanese maples.

The door step is completely covered so wood sounds like it'd be the easiest option. Painted? Stained? At any rate, it definitely needs to be extended out left.

What is the rectangular framed thing on the house to the left of the step? Is it possibly something that isn't meant to be blocked?

The rectangular thing vents the crawl space. There are about a dozen all around the house. I'll definitely verify before I do anything.

You know, I'll bet this isn't the first steps this house has had. Notice the white 'beam' to the right of the steps. It's truncated at the bottom exactly at the level of the bottom of the door, like that was the original bottom and the steps replaced with something lower. It looks like the step has been poured or placed after the new siding was put on too.

I don't think brick looks bad against vinyl/aluminum siding, but I think slate would look really good. I have a prejudice against wooden steps/stoops and it's just a personal thing. I have found them to be slippery when wet, needing maintenance if painted, and it's a choice for porches in my locale on older, established homes simply because it's cheaper than pouring concrete and modern looking 'decks' stuck on homes when it's not historically accurate. You house, btw is very pretty.

Thanks! I think you're right about the door. In fact, marks on the interior floor indicate the front door was formerly located about 12" to the right.

The house started out as about 500 sq ft. It was then moved to its current locations and had the two bedrooms added on. Many changes over the years.

I was wondering why the stoop was offset to the right so much. That would do it. You know something, that empty area of stoop is begging your for a large pottery urn filled with flowers. LOL. My mind goes immediately to entrances and urns, can you tell I own greenhouses?

That's a fabulous door. Did you paint yourself? Do you know the colors, trim, door, siding? Wonderful choices, it looks fantastic.

I think the most practical thing would be a wooden step that you could paint similar to the wall or trim color so it blends and looks original. All your existing exterior is wood, so I'd personally want to stay with a wood platform for this reason.

The wooden 'platform' will have slats to allow ventilation i.e. not interfering with that vent on the lh side, yet it would still allow you to expand the stoop over the vent. You could also build over the existing concrete stoop, thus saving money for cost of removal.

It just needs to be made wider so that it's symmetrical (same dimensions on each side of the door - it looks like the trim on each side of the door is already equal distance - the area to the right of the mailbox and left of the vent), and of course the platform needs more depth (jutting out further to a comfortable position).

Urns or planters flanking this doorway would look spectacular.

If you did build a wooden, slatted platform, I think I'd bring up up to the original step level, just slightly below the bottom of the door, so that when one walked out, they didn't have to immediately step down. It would also solve the truncated white beam suspended in mid-air, on the right lol, and not occlude the little vent space.

I was thinking of a pebble like finish on the step. Here's a site that just gives an idea of pebble ideas. The cool thing with that is you can buy pebble runners and mats that would tie in and give it an earthy feel.
http://www.modwalls.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=20

Thanks! I bought the house 95% complete so I can't take credit for the color choices but I definitely love the work the restorers did! The colors are as follows:

Door: Benjamin Moore "Cottage Red"
Body: Benjamin Moore HC-31
Trim: Benjamin Moore HC-32

I think I'm leaning towards wood at this point. I think it'll "blend" better with the house and will definitely be easier to do. Plus, it's a quick demo if I don't like the results. What do you guys think about an overhanging red deck and yellow risers? Too much red?

Either way, I'm definitely getting some pottery containers. Thanks all!

I think a wood landing would look real nice. Of course with the Flower Pots.

Good luck
What a beautiful house!

The porchguy

Here is a link that might be useful: My Album

You can cover it with wood, granite, sandstone, bluestone, slate, etc. as long as it is one large piece. I would avoid joints; a front door threshold should look substantial and not be likely to deteriorate over time.

Well, I wondered why you called yourself Porchman, until I looked at your albums. LOL. Your porch is prettier than my interior floors!

Not that you asked, but looking at your pictures, your "sidewalk to nowhere" in the front of your house is really confusing to a first-time-viewer. What were they thinking? Practicing the side-step dance? I think while you are re-doing the front step, you should also tie in the arch of the entranceway with matching colors and/or materials, so people don't have to guess where your front door is. And if you are really motivated, move the sidewalk over so it goes directly to the front entrance. (Yes, I've been watching too much HGTV!)

Regarding the "sidewalk to nowhere", my guess is that someone planned to build a front door/entryway there since the house was relocated to the current location and the actual/original front door is now on the side. I know I've had the thought...but now that mention it, it'd be way easier to move the walkway then move the entryway. Hmmm, new item for the low priority list.

WOW! I have to say that looks fantastic. Great choice. Where do you come across teak? Do you have to locate online, locally, or hire a carpenter?

Thanks! I picked up the Cumaru/Brazilian Teak (aka poor mans teak) at the local lumber yard. They had the real thing but it was going for over $27/board foot (compared to $3.25/board foot for the Cumaru). However, there are plenty of online places that'll ship it to your door.

What an improvement! Nice work.

That is absolutely beautiful and you did a great job. Awesome wood, nice finish. Really makes an impact at the front door.

I am curious, though, why you didn't take that dummy board from under the door jamb, and make the steps more level with the bottom of the door, and bringing it up to its former height? You'd have caught that board hanging in mid-air at the same time. Rationale of what I am not seeing?

Thanks for the nice words. At the current height, 2x8s lined up perfectly with 1.5x4s screwed directly onto the old concrete. Making it any higher would've required long rip cuts and joisting shenanigans which I wasn't sure I could pull off decently.

Don't blame you, knew you had a reason and knew I couldn't see it. Thanks for indulging me.

Want to see a picture of my 'custom' step?

Are you ready?

Ok....promise not to laugh.

{{!gwi}}

ok..ok...you have the right to laugh. I won't hold it against you.

Actually, this is the original stoop to the house that we're remodeling this year. We had a contractor over and he kept complaining because the concrete platform sits uncomfortably low under the door, the distance obviously not up to code, so he built this for us on a whim...a temporary wooden step. I painted it and threw some of that rough tape on it to prevent us from slipping....LOL...it's really a pathetic looking thing, but temporary.

Trust me, I can't wait to see it go. Especially after seeing your beautiful Teak!

BTW - that's my old dog Cody (17 yrs) and the Chi is my beloved Chewy - I had to put Chewy down this past weekend due to congestive heart failure. I miss him dearly, he was such a little lover boy. He hadn't a clue to his own size...he'd charge Pit Bulls though he weighed all but 4 lbs! LOL.

Awww, that's sad :(