For me, depends on if there are windows on side of house to let full light in to downstairs area.

unfortunately none 🙁

There was a patio covering (non balcony) on our house when we purchased and the only windows faced the back too. I did not like how dark the room was (it’s our family room). However I am the type of person who would love to have all floor to ceiling windows in a home as I ADORE light.

There were some issues with water leaking when it rained and we already thinking about redoing backyard, so we ended up just knocking it down. Now there is finally enough light. If we do another attached one, we would place it to slightly to one side of our backyard that does not have any windows (the backside of our house is a bit different than yours). We are currently renovating part of our backyard, but we are not at the point of deciding whether we will include some type of structure again like that.

I know the photo is grainy, but here is how it use to look. Pretty dark, however I am sure the color of the tile they choose to put on top of the concrete did not help (and did fit the house design too).

thanks so much for the input! makes me rethink about the whole plan now...

do u have a now picture without the covered patio?

We are in midst of redoing backyard, but you can see where we took down the patio cover to the left. I took this picture at probably 8 am today. If were to put in a new attached structure, it would to the right behind me. We may just end up putting in a standalone structure.

thanks for sharing! you and me both, i love light. first thing i do in the morning is open all blinds so the light could get in. i wouldn't want to sacrifice that for sure. i will research on a better alternative. it rains 80% of the time where i live and really i just want to have an easy access to some outdoor sunshine and i thought since i spend most of my time upstairs, maybe off of masters. as you can see in my picture, our patio is really not all inviting, maybe I'll need to work on that....

If covered space and light are more important than having a deck upstairs you could consider a covered patio with lexan roofing. It rains (and snows) a lot here too and covered outdoor space is gold. Having that without giving up sunshine is even better!