Are you in a part of the country that has bug problems during warmer months? If so, you might want to consider adding a screened porch.

There is a sky light on the left, which adds nice light into the french doors of the den below, but I could do without if needed. There are also 3 nonfunctioning/unnecessary round air vents for the storage space above the patio, which I suppose functions like an additional attic space, but we have never used it.

We live in Alabama, so a screened in porch would be nice in theory, but we store our kids’ outdoor riding toys in this space so it really needs to be open. Ths picture was actually taken before we moved in, so it doesn‘t show all the things we really have here.

I would remove thewhole covered area and maybe add a pergola that would give you the light back in the indoors and then use the whole patio for entertaining and the kids stuff goes in the garage, This will not be cheap since then the siding will need to be repaired but honestly I think better light i9n the house is more important than a 1/2 covered patio..

A storage space there sounds awkward, no wonder you haven't used it. You could do a screen porch in that footprint- just do screen french doors instead of a single door and it should be plenty wide for putting kids things in and out. If you did sliding screen doors you could still do the double wide opening, and leave it open or closed as you need it.

A family member recently added an insulated porch. The slab was poured but the fabrication of the porch was all modular from the 4 SEASONS factory. The crew assembled it all with the roof in 2 days. If wasn't inexpensive but it's built like a tank.

The vents are odd, but skylights can be a good idea. Which direction does this side of the house face? Would it be advantageous to get more light into the house, or if it's facing west or south, is it better to have the cover of a full roof? Just something to think about. You're right as far as you won't be able to change the pitch of the roof. I am surprised anyone thought that "storage space" was going to be useful.

Thank you for the suggestion, Beverly! It turned out lovely. I will definitely look into this!

Kandrewspa, there are a number of things we‘ve found to be odd about this house. The patio faces south west, so it gets pretty hot in the sun and I believe would be nearly unbearable without full shade back there. I do love the shade it currently provides, just want a doffernet look. We have kitchen windows facing west and get a good amount of afternoon sun entering the den through the kitchen.

I would love something similar to the picture below, but I think accomodating the upstairs windows would make this design impossible.