Bizarre 'car port' patio

So, we have this interesting car port in our back yard. But it's not really a car port, because the driveway is on the other side of the house. It's a covered patio in the back yard designated for rainy-day BBQ's I guess. We're debating several options. Pulling the roof off entirely, and replacing it with wood beams/ grapevine. Or closing it in, adding french doors, and making it an additional 'loft' room.

Historical Highland Park, CA

Some interesting information on the Highland Park neighborhood in southern california:

http://www.bob-taylor.com/highpark.htm

http://www.bob-taylor.com/dev-hist.htm

http://historichighlandpark.org/

WOODWORK: to paint or not to paint?

The guy who owned the house before us had the intention of making a full restoration of all period details. He made many improvements, and then decided to sell. Amongst many other things, one thing he did was strip ALL of the woodwork in the house, including trim, moulding, built-ins...EVERYTHING (believe me, you don't need to tell us how lucky we are... we know)
I've seen this topic brought up in other peoples' home-blogs, and now we're faced with the same question: what to do with this wood? The wood is the same kind as every other historic craftsman: Douglas Fir. We are HUGE fans of exposed wood--lighter exposed wood. Our house is not large: 1000 sq. feet. We hate the thought of painting over wood that has been stripped to display its natural beauty; but at the same time, the confined space of our home would be greatly benefitted by white trim. Stained, varnished wood may just be too heavy for our home.

Offer accepted, YEAH!

After two disappointing instances of being overbid on houses, we finally came out on top. If you ask me, southern california real estate is ridiculously priced--but will it ever cool down? It seems like people are always flocking to the warmer weather here, and thus the market will always be on the rise. Only time will tell. With that said, we're thrilled to finally be in a house (scheduled to close escrow on 11/28). No more moving from apartment to apartment, paying someone elses mortgage! Our lovely new-old home is a 1921 craftsman bungalow situated in a historic area in Highland Park, CA.