Thank you for the thoughtful response, LF Builders. I appreciate it!

Chat GPT gave you a true 2-story house and the only way to achieve that look is to knock down most of your house. Not realistic at all.

Split/bi-level houses are the most difficult to remodel or add on to. Unless you got a great deal on it when you bought it and/or truly love the location, you will be better off selling and moving to a new house with the look you want.

A local designer/architect is your first stop for this project.

All the photos you show would cost at least couple of hundred thousand dollars. You have one ridge line, a recessed front door, sloping lot. Windows would need to be change out...this is the only photo I could find which might work. The application isn't great, but it sure could be improved with different materials.

Keep in mind you have to walk out the front door.

Yeah, I had a feeling the AI was gonna be too good to be true. It’s tricky since we love the neighborhood.

My parents built a split-level with a deck off the dining/living room end. That is definitely possible.

That’s a good option. I was hoping to do something to make the front look better too. It’s so blah.

I revised my request on ChatGPT, requesting that the door and windows remain in the same place. Does this new image look more likely to be possible? To my non-professional eye, it does. It would be such a stunning transformation, if it’s possible. (I crossed off one image that changed the house to a mirror image of what it should be.)

To make that work, you'll have to excavate to the depth of the lower level foundation for the porch. IMHO, No, it doesn't work.

AI has your front door at twice the height where it actually is. Not happening unless you tear down and start over.

Do not look to AI for ideas that are not realistic. Search online for real/actual remodels of split-levels. There are a few out there.

AI has no budget and just looks on the internet like you can do . Maybe someday AI will be able to actually do design but not yet. You come here with a budget and some idea of what you want from a wraparound deck that seems to me to be on display 24/7 How big of a deck ? Are there zoning rules in place that need to be considered .Wraparound from the back to the front ?I tend to like my deck to be less visible from the road but we need a lot more info from you.Anything is possible with a really big money tree and the last one you show is 200K to start As for a showcase project I would not hold my breath

As @millworkman said, your 1st stop should be your zoning department, speak to a zoning officer, who will tell you what you can and cannot do.

In addition, corner lots have different requirements, so that would be your best bet.

Good luck

Your revised AI request also changed the proportions of your house significantly. It raised the second floor, as you can see because it added a much bigger staircase to your door and it's porch is completely out of scale with the house.

AI makes very pretty pictures, but they usually significanly deviate from reality or what can realistically be achieved.

I had the same concern as @millIworkman - your side yard does not look that deep. What are the setback requirements from the street? You may find out that your project just isn't possible OR it is possible - however, the porch will be too narrow to really make it worth the expense.

I have no idea what your budget is for this project. Four years ago, we added a new paver patio and covered about 1/3 of it. It was $$$ - more than I imagined it would be when my SO and I first discussed it (it was even more expensive once he added the large outdoor tv + four B&W outdoor speakers + two low profile radiant heating units on the gabled cedar plank ceiling - however, he LOVES it and uses it 3/4 of the year).

Our yard has a slope over to the side where the covered portion was added - the extra retaining walls were fairly expensive also (we previously had a deck out back). We didn't have the added expense of excavation that would be needed in order for you to complete a project similar to what you've shown in your above comment.

If you feel comfortable, it would be helpful if you shared your budget for this project. Without having some idea of what you've allocated for this change, it makes it impossible for people to propose any potential ideas/thoughts/suggestions.

I did find some potential ways to add a patio/porch or just update the front of your home. One way to find more examples is to refer to it as a "bi-level" instead of a split level.

A split level is where the house is designed as if a ranch was split and raised a half flight of stairs. This allows for a garage or basement to be located under the raised side. This type of house has the front door on the same level as the kitchen/family room/living room/dining room. My sister and BIL's first home was a split level - it had a garage under the raised side + a basement under the non-raised side. It didn't have any low windows at ground level (as a bi-level does).

Your house appears to be a bi-level - I assume that when you enter your home, the foyer is situated like a landing on a set of stairs - you can either go up to the main house or go down to the family room/basement. My former in-laws had a bi-level home - if you went up the stairs after entering, it led to most of the home. If you went down the stairs, there was a family room + partial basement.

Below is a bi-level that doesn't have a porch - however, it has a patio area + an added portico over the front door. They also added some wood elements + a bay window with a copper roof:

The next home is an updated bi-level - they simply added a nice portico over the entry + updated it with stone around the bottom + a new wood front door + garage door:

This last example is closer to what you would like to do to your home (but they've done an extensive renovation). By raising the front door, they were able to add a porch across the front of the home + wrapped it around the right side. They also added an addition over the left side of the home + they changed the entire roof line by adding another level on top:

Raising the front door makes a big difference - it allows the porch to be built higher off the ground = the windows along the bottom of the home are located under the porch.

Without seeing the "before" photo, you'd never think that the house in the top photo was originally a bi-level style home.

Raising the door and putting the porch on the second floor does make the house look better --- at least, the AI version --- but windows under a porch get very little light. Doing that will essentially turn your first floor into somethiing that feels like a basement, which I'm sure will knock a huge chunk off the value of your house.

Something is wrong with 'after' version of the last photo. I strongly suspect it is more AI.

A typical raised ranch/split foyer is not symmetrical around the front door. The living area is usually smaller than the bedroom side. So the changes are:

1. the front door has been centered
2. the windows on both floors have been completely redone
3. I don't know what happened to the second floor overhang.
4. dormers were added

It probably would have been cheaper to do a teardown.

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful comments. I can see that I have a lot to think about here, starting with finding out what the town will permit in the side yard. I appreciate the feedback to search for bi-level.