@zimzat yeah, on the surface level things seem to be attractive, but as you go further and deeper, facepalms emerge. Some dbal & a custom data mapper will probably be the start.
I use Doctrine on my day-to-day work, and have used Eloquent before. Eloquent I liked up to some point, but can't say that for Doctrine. I wish I had more time to build something like Eloquent but with less magic and bloat (simple to use but not trying to do everything imaginable)