Hi everyone! Our home is a ranch home, but the main entry door is actually on the side of our house right on our loooooong driveway. There are a very awkward set of weird double concrete stairs leading to the door. We’d like to relocate the front door to the actual front of the house (what a novel idea!) but there are a few issues I’m running into when thinking about this project. There are pictures below for reference.

First - the two windows now on the front of the house are in the living room and dining room. Ideally I’d like the front door centered on the house, but there is the main (i assume load bearing) wall that runs the length of the house there, so I’m not sure if that can be done. So I’m assuming the door will have to be placed where one set of the windows is. Is it weird to have the front door into the dining room that’s open to the kitchen?

Second - we’ll be putting on a porch at the same time. Any thoughts on styles or rooflines?

Third - when the door is moved I’d like to close up the old front door to make the space inside a little more functional. That leaves the question of what to do with the space where the steps will be removed? Do we keep the flower beds that are there now? What should go there if we remove them?

Any ideas or mockups would be surely welcomed as I’m having a lot of difficulty visualizing this project!