There are exterior roller blinds/screens.

I kinda like the blue roof! Sweet house!

Thank you! I am wanting something I won't have to worry about pulling everyday. :) Maybe a pergola added? Not sure.

In the Netherlands there are screens with either a spindle (strap) or an electric motor, both inside the house. There probably are where you live. The screens are see-through, so when they're down you can still look outside (a little).

I am not a fan of awnings. Could you plant a tree? That would provide shade when it is mature. Otherwise a screen/blin would be a second choice.

A Portico over the front door would be perfect. Very in keeping with the era of the house too.

A lovely house!

Extend the new portico roof right across the porch. Clad the new roof in raised seam material in Black or Charcoal. Introduce a wide Blue and White awning stripe for your window treatments inside the house. Repaint the front glass door frame in a new color like chinese red for punch. I love your house including the roof..........!

Thank you guys for the nice comments! I'm glad my blue roof doesn't scream at all of you. :) I wish It was different but am learning to like it - maybe I'll love it soon! I am interested @Jeffrey in your idea - I looked on Houzz for a good extended roof portico - something like the attached image? I will have to research the seamed material for roofing - can't quite picture what two colors of roofing would look like! :) I have always loved full covered porches and didn't think with the roofline we could add one. Maybe we can!

Traditional Porch design by Other Metro Design-build Kaufman Construction Design and Build

oops - here's the photo

This is exactly what I had in mind. Also, the roof on your portico now is either raised seam or rubber.

What a lovely home and here in its christmas best! Of course, it has a very attractive Vanna to show it off :-)

The juliet awning over your front door is actually perfect for your architecture - I hope you will keep it but see below for some adjustments that will solve what is bothering your eye.

As for the front window, the best architectural answer is probably a train rack trellis painted white like the eaves on wooden brackets so that the elevation of the trellis lattice (running paralell to the house) is the same as / as close as possible to your gutter elevation - this can work because the brace below first holds a member that is perpendicular to the house then the 1 x 3's go all the way across to bear on the other end bracket. The brackets sit with their tops several inches below the gutter, then the cross piece, then the lattice so the lattice is boosted a bit by something that can be cut to miss / butt into the gutter.

Since the shutter to the right of the window is near the wall, that bracket is going to turn 90 degrees and
come off the side of the house where your front door elevation juts forward from the window at issue. You will mount this as high as possible under the gutter / eave and then The bracket will then support the first crosspiece that is perpendicular, ultimately sit in the center of the overall rack. In profile you will still see the shutter behind it / below it and it will all look very charming.

The trellis should extend no farther forward than the jut out, but you could grow a deciduous vine up over it so it provides extended shade for the hot season. You could also mount an operable awning there on the front - a little higher than you could get on the house that you would open for critical times. If you do add a front operable awning to the train rack, you will need to have it engineered more. I also urge you not to get stripes or have the bottom edge flap be very deep - something in a light citrus green (contrast/complimentary) is going to be your best bet.

The left bracket will sit halfway between the end of the wall and the edge of the shutter. Here's the kind of bracket that will support this properly and fit into the character of your home - http://www.prowoodmarket.com/wood-bracket-02t4/

Now for the juliet - I think what is bothering you is the black. You have two choices - the one with the most charm is to use a two layer process you can buy at Michael's for metal and give it a copper patina finish. This will weather but is a small enough area to really look great since your blue tile and shutters are in the teal direction of blue. The other alternative is to use a copper spray paint finish. That is classic and would be pretty but might call too much attention to something you aren't sure of.

Hope some of these ideas provide food for thought - good luck!

Thank you so much for the very thoughtful walk-through of this idea! It would certainly be more inexpensive! :) I love the old look of vines softening and growing up trellises and pergolas....I think it would be so pretty and charming, too.

When you say "the trellis should extend no farther forward than the jut out" - do you mean it should be as wide as the space formed by the wall that is the entrance? And reach this corner? Or cover the entire porch?

I've attached a pic of where I think you're suggesting:

Love rubecofi's ideas...just right! In the mean time, install tinted window film on that front window; easy do it yourself project and it will help protect the fabrics on your furniture inside. No matter what you do outside this is a good immediate to do.

Also, I spent years HATING a certain aspect of my house until one day it dawned on me to embrace it and work with it...everything fell into place after that decision and I love the uniqueness of my house now. I LOVE your blue roof....Imagine all the fun ways to go with exterior paint which is way cheaper than a new roof! I even think the black is a nice accent but I would definitely repaint the front door...how about a touch brighter blue than the roof; leave the black storm door as the "outline" of the door? I could so see a great pink flowering cherry in front of that roof and lilacs at the corners of the house to extend the blue hues. Totally charming, and the best accessory is the happy face in the front yard!

I had written so much I didn't go look for photos but you found them! Yes, your photo shop shows where your support would have to be at 90 degrees not to conflict with your shutter.

Yes, I think you probably want to keep it no deeper than the recess between the two front planes of your home though trellis "tails" could jut forward as much as 8" or so and be to scale okay - still shallower than your juliet. Vines when deciduous are can really add a lot of shade to these and be beautiful year round. IMHO the covered porch will detract from the "tudor" peak entry you have - it works with a farmhouse roofline better than a tudor peak - which adds sooooo much cottage charm.

The railing that runs off to the left across this window area is really great with holiday things on it, but may want to be removed in the long run to open this elevation, especially when you add a trellis rack.
I'm in the "embrace the blue roof" camp - uniqueness adds charm in an era of tract ticky tack.

Thank you so much @Libra and everyone! I love all of these ideas! :) I never knew what the architecture of my home was technically called - (tudor, juliet etc.) This house has had four additions (luckily, they are all wonderfully done) and there are tons of projects on the in and outside to be worked on. I'm so impressed with the community here at Houzz and the willingness for all of you to comment with very thoughtful ideas. This is my first post here and I'm loving it! :) I hope to ask more questions about other areas and also help out with my ideas when you post. I'm no professional but do love the design/decor/style world.

Blessings!

I have a porch on my house that goes across the front windows. The roof covers the porch and that causes light to be limited in the house. Frankly, if you need light I would see about an arbor across the top that meet the front of your house. You know the arbors that have the space in between. That way light can still get into your home. I would then make or order those long stripes of fabric to go inside the opening with a long pole attached in a way you could pull the fabric across the arbor from end to end when you need the shade.

Have you thought about one of large umbrellas when you are outside. Get one that go with your house color. Get a pretty furniture grouping in place outside with tables. I would paint the rails a pretty white. You could include those rail planters and plant flowers to add color.

The drawing you included would do well over your porch if it is the one you can roll back. Since there isn't much going on, I would still include some pretty outdoors furniture with colorful pillows, a rug even though you will not be able to see it from the street. I would if it was me, put rails up leaving an opening in the middle for family and friends to come to. I would include planters on the side rails and paint them white. I would save but move the hedges on each side of the rails (waste not want not), and put a path that curves to the walkway to get to your front door. I would use some type of stepping stone prehaps include some type of growth between the stones that will stand being walked on.

Well I hope this will help. Oh! please replant another type of hedge under the windows those three bushes look terrible. And remove that tree. It will do no good to fix your porch up if you don't make the right side look just as good.

Good Luck

Your house is extremely charming and the blue roof is 100% perfect. This picture could be the front cover of a coffee table book on curb appeal.

haha! Yes, all the landscaping does look terrible right now. The large tree on the right side is a humongous brandford pear - in a couple of weeks (I'm in Texas), it will be gorgeous and full of white blossoms. Can't wait! The three bushes are Nandinas and they are looking rather sad in the cold snowy weather. The splindly little tree is a yaupon holly and it is a problem - not sure what to replace it with. The bushes in front of the railing are a mix - some boxwoods, and one we don't know its identity (lost it's leaves, but the ones that held on are very small and dark purple).

What this pic doesn't show is that we have a half-circle drive (my daughter in the pic is standing in it). Not sure taking down the railing and adding a walking path through the middle of the porch area is needed. I definitely want to add a rug, some fun furniture, maybe even long windowboxes underneath the large window, some potted plants!

This is our first Spring in this house (we moved in mid-Fall) and I'm loving discovering lots of bulbs peeking up! :)

Oh wow @soberg, thank you. :)

Your house is adorable. If you have room in your yard it would be nice to have a flowering tree out from the large window to provide a view.

Great house. My two cents are to embrace the blue roof. It's so much nicer than asphalt shingle! And convenient when giving directions - "just look for the house with the blue roof". I think the problem is that the blue roof and black shutters/roof over door aren't working well together. Painting the shutters and small roof would solve that. I'd also add a tree for future shade, do the narrow pergola previously described, and, if you really want a swing, build a second small pergola in the yard with porch swing suspended from it. Add charming vines and it will be awesome. More appropriate for your house and much less expensive than the covered porch option.
Lastly, you might consider painting either the trim or the wall color for a little more contrast. It is hard to tell about this from a photo, especially with white snow everywhere. Enjoy your beautiful new home!

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I absolutely love your house - how charming can it get? :-) I think that librarydesigneye is absolutely right - a pergola would just add that much more charm and could be planted with a deciduous vine for additional summer shade. I, too, very much like your blue roof. I think that with summer plantings you can really play that up and integrate the blue. Why not paint the roof over the door to match? Your front door, from what I can see, looks like it's stained wood? Hard to tell without a shot of this, but maybe an accent color on the door would help to pull the colors together, too. Please post further photos as you go along - as I said before, it's just charming!

I love the blue roof too. With the roof peak and shutters, for some reason it reminds me of Snow White. At any rate, I love the shallow arbor idea for over the porch, also the window film. Don't do all the windows though, just the west facing ones. I have it on all the windows, and it does make it look dark in here. I wish I had some natural light windows to see what is going on outside better. I have a full porch overhang over my big windows facing south, and it does make that room quite dark.

Thanks everyone! :) Glad you all like the blue roof. I'm rethinking my "lack of love" for it. I think it is just so different than the roofs in my neighborhood (most are wood shake) and it stands out a lot.

The shutters are actually a deep midnight blue and match the roof pretty well. I'm considering adding the verdigris patina to the small black metal seam roof. We shall see! :)

Your house is wonderful, I too, like the blue roof. Having lived in a west facing house with a large front window similar to yours, I have to say that a shallow arbor will have a limited effect on the amount of sun streaming through. It will only work when the sun angle is overhead, and as the sun gets lower in the western sky, the arbor will have no effect. Unfortunately, that's most of the afternoon in the warmest time of the year. Just a thought...

Inside the window, plantation blinds work wonders also. You can get a light color for a cool look, and then angle them to keep out the sun whatever angle the sun is coming in. The combination of the leafy arbor and the plantation blinds should do the job. We have them in our west windows up north and they are great for blocking the worst of the glare while still letting in light. You reverse angle them.