I am AMAZED at how effective asking total strangers on the internet can be for ideas… we thought we’d considered everything… and yet never considered that at all.

Will be nice to actually have new idea to run past husband! thank you!

I know how wearing renovations can be especially of you're living with them. Part of the charm of old houses is the quirkiness . I assume this area will just be a ante room for the exit to the patio and not part of the kitchen and as such can be quirky. If you have a functional kitchen design that works around it I don't think it will detract.

I agree, the overall feel of the room looks fine, perhaps if you draw a floor plan of the space it would be easier to see the potentials.

Porch is what I thought too - great idea above. Let's expand on that a bit. If your porch flows across
the back - the existing stairs can be integrated under it and new ones placed further out at a location of your choosing. I'm guessing the back patio concrete isn't so precious that it can't be covered.

Sadly I see beyond a tree and compressor / services that mean you can't easily connect it over the side of the house to the other stairs at another door beyond on the left as would befit a grand victorian lady. There seem to be some attic windows there you wouldn't want to shade out by the next stoop. However, if the tree and compressor and are in an area you would like to have deck in, I've seen tree grates integrated into decks so the tree keeps growing right through and "wells" built with wood porch screening around this sort of thing below. Trees growing through decks are veerrry charming. Or you could take it out. The bigger the "back porch" is, the more options you have to borrow outdoor space back into these rooms.

The more contiguous wall and porch area you have, the more options you have for even moving the door up the side of the house / changing the layout and focal point of the expanded kitchen / sunroom, even finishing off the corner - since the roof is already there. Your kitchen and sunroom could have a large deck down the side so that 1/2 the year, you've grown your "livable" square footage. You can even move the french doors up to / across from the window at the back of the kitchen, and then taking the back wall for "services" and closing the corner, adding windows down the deck side starts to make the layout of the room, and location of the bath seem deliberate. If you did put a deck up this side, and take it out to the edge of the stairs beyond, it looks like you would have at least 12' which would make it work like another room half the year. Proximity to the kitchen is really nice, so you can envision alfresco party meals on the deck, or dancing, or a barbecue grill in the corner by the compressor (hey, screening could have a nice movable top that can be used next to a grill.

You all are awesome…
Yes to the tree… and also not-visible are exterior, bilco doors to the basement on that side. We had considered layouts for that side, and nothing had a nice flow that accommodated both…

@libra- I really love the idea of changing the focus of the room to the side, and leaving the bath… extending it on that wall. But how do you envision connecting new side porch to existing concrete patio? Or are you thinking we would remove it?

This is getting into way more project than I was hoping, but closing off the end of the room hadn’t occurred to me.

New porch deck just below finish floor would connect / flow over existing stair. You might have to chiphammer the top but I estimate once you take brick off, you will have depth to probably just lay decking over it with joists laid out to miss it completely. What if you move french doors up to as close to kitchen as is practicable with issues, then build in corner and add windows all along deck side. Deck can should continue around back of house/ Like how extended laundry room with borrowed transom windows on exterior and interior idea gains traction.
Which way is north?

Thank you libra! Standing on the patio, facing the garage squarely is pretty much exactly due north. Going to run this by husband. We’ll see what he says… he always loves changing plans mid-stride. Ha ha.

Thought I uploaded this earlier... should say that's the existing kitchen layout, not a final design.

East facing sunroom with western exposure too would mean your patio will get afternoon shade at the hot time of year - pretty great. Morning sun means your sunroom would be wonderful at brunch time. What is your favorite breakfast cocktail? While you read this, consider giving a party once it is done sipping your favorite - for me, bloody mary with horseradish and olive garnish. So, I'll coastal hop or vicariously dance with you when you are ready to celebrate!

If it is feasible with the exterior basement doors, I would be tempted to turn the window next to the exterior doors into a french door before the post and put a big hinged plywood panel in the floor of the raised deck over the exterior doors to the basement. You could put some hold open hardware on the dining room wall above. We have one of these over stairs to a basement in a historic building I've worked on from 1870. Don't know how critical your basement space is to everyday function or if only needed for maintenance. If the fuel oil truck needs to back up to the doors, well, I get it, but if they run a hose already, then go for it. Put enough area in front for wide steep loft stairs back down under the plywood panel.

Consider running the deck from exterior wall of dining room all the way out to around 12' / but not past lining up extent of outside stair /posts / roof on side of house to south. Continue north to the end of the house and around the corner to include another area about 1/2 way across the north end an equal distance 12' north and about 6' west off the corner of the house. Use that north corner 6' x area for the landing for new stairs that head north into your backyard (near garage!) so the landing area is outside of the big rectangular "east room" created. Going all the way across the north may impede car traffic / turnaround and is out of the main "room" on the east.

You could rework the north bath wall to recapture 1' of depth for casework on the room side - set it so the interior dimension is 3' 6" wide and extend it all along the back wall. You could turn your toilet 90 degrees to meet code (it doesn't now re: min area in front) and probably shift your sink down the wall a foot or bit to make the bathroom longer. I would take the other half of this 13' 6 x 3' 6" wide space and build in some function you don't have elsewhere. Coat closet and bin storage is one option. Walk in Pantry is one option. It could even be a very fancy powder your nose bench and mirror anteroom victorian "mud room" to the little bath. The little window would be perfect for this and you could get a deep built in coat closet in the end opposite the bath.

Now in the room beyond, you have space past the current kitchen casework that is 13'6" x 17 - nice dimensions to work with.

Consider a common door to the newly created space in the area of the new function (about where the 1" in 9'1" is now). Integrate it into the face of the new casework built-in cabinetry. Put a separate door from there into the bath - Natural corridor in front of seating on that east wall puts the door from 3'6" off east wall to 5' off wall - 28" door should work great. That leaves 8' 6 on the other side for a feature bookcase element but keeps all your circulation down one side of the room.

Now, if that is just too much rework, then leaving the corner door and decking 1/2 the north end and around the corner to about the post inside, then lose the tree can still help your room work better. You won't have dining space on the deck, just seating groupings on the side area. The real gift of the deck is the ability to move those corner doors up the side of the room and capture use out of the corner.

If possible to move the doors, the closer you can get the doors to the table area, then you don't lose any seating space since that all has to be circulation already. That opens up the possibility to orient all the seating to look out on the east facing wall / deck and side yard and back at the kitchen.

I’m laughing… because my husband told me to look into other options… and I’m pretty sure he’s going to be surprised when I run this by him tonight!

I’m typing from my phone, and will write a longer response when I get home tonight! Thank you!!

As predicted, husband gave me wide-eyed crazy look, LOL… something about working with what we have… I was like, but look! This idea is CLEARLY superior!!

He’s refusing further discussion of your brilliant design until the concrete guy says what our options are. Concrete guy is going to come out this weekend and tell us what can be done with the stairs, as far as resurfacing them, or covering whatever mark they would leave if we moved them…if that’s even possible.

We’ll see how that goes… so much less romantic than a sweeping porch. And your idea stands to emphasize that we are not at all maximizing that side of the house... at all. It's a totally unused part of the yard, and doors nearer the kitchen area would do a lot to make the room seem wider.

I'm going to play around with your ideas... even if scaled down to just have a door into the side yard there would be nice, even if just steps... all of which is getting into way more project, but at least should explore the option.

THANK you again!!