I've seen capes with a little bump-out in the front, which looks sort of like an enclosed portico. I think if you wanted to enclose the space & treat it like living space (heat & cool it) you would have a lot of work to do on the underside to insulate & weather-proof it. A portico is sort of like a roof over a deck, right? Turning a deck into living space is no easy feat, it almost requires replacing the whole structure.

Do you need a foyer for a coat closet or is there something else you wanted to gain from it? Maybe there is another way to get those functions?

Lots of people have enclosed front porches. How big of an area are you talking about? If you are talking about a 5x5 landing space, then I would think it would feel like a little box. If it is larger, it might work with a couple of windows or a glass door.

I assume you just want to enclose it so that you have a space out of the elements to take your shoes off etc.? Or are you trying to make it a fully heated/cooled area?

You'll get more specific design advice if you show the existing portico in a photo and a plan drawing with dimensions.

thanks! right now we don't have a foyer. so there's a bit of space for one person to take off coat and shoes but that's about it. so yes, i was thinking of adding some more 'breathing' space and a true foyer.
unfortunately it might be like a little box connected to the existing interior entry space since the portico/landing is probably 5'x5' . since the space is so small not sure we'd need to add vents there for heating/cooling. walls would definitely be insulated though.

For some reason I thought you had posted your entry pic. I don't know why smaller homes didn't respond to you. There are a number of possibilities discussed in past. I did respond with a link showing what one OP did. Link is below. Go to bottom of thread to see how it was done.

Here is a link that might be useful: Small portico enclosure

this is great, thanks emagineer!!!!

Hopefully you can avoid adding two different types of windows that are not only inconsistent with each other but are both different from the house. And then putting them on a siding material that doesn't match the house, either.

I have seen a very clever job of enclosing a small porch (or segment of a large porch). They used wooden combination storm/screen doors, the kind where you seasonally trade out the insert for glass and screen. They typically had a raised panel in the bottom 2' and a 8 pane divided lite storm panel. Since storms were made in 30", 32", and 36" widths right off the shelf, they could be combined in such a way that a variable trim board at the ends/corners completed the spans.
Well, I thought it was a good cheap way to get a nice storm porch that became a screened porch in the summer. If you were clever about how you mount them, the entire thing could be broken down with the unhooking of some hook eyes and taking out a few screws and easily returned to an open porch.
Casey