You've just demonstrated that a kit without practice is worth a lot less. Learn from your experience & improve. If you think a bigger kit will help you resolve some of the issues you've encountered, then got for it. It is always required to shelter your fire building material as you prepare to light it. In a "real" situation, you would not have been on you deck ! You would have dug a shallow hole in the ground a built a "fireplace" of sorts with stones ... If it was rainning, you would have set up a tarp before firebuilding to shelter you & your effort.

Bigger is better as long as it is not so big as you decide to leave it behind ...