Taking a brief break from the interior, I made some progress on the front porch.  I added a 3 1/2" x 13 1/2" piece of 3/8" plywood to the second floor baseboard to create the forward portion of the porch roof.

I originally had planned to use the porch posts that came with the Newport kit but decided to go with something more fluid and curved after seeing the railing and newel posts in place on top of the garage.  Those pieces were from the Foxhall Conservatory kit I used to make the garage.

Below is the latest mockup with new veranda posts, newel posts and preassembled railings by Houseworks, currently partially painted and uncut (the railings won't extend past the corner posts but will enclose the sides of the porch).  I also continued the nosing around the front and sides of the porch roof for uniformity with the rest of the house and to finish off the edges.  In the photo below, the nosing is taped in place and unpainted.

So far, I like this modified porch much better than the original.