bumping this up - NHB, Laura, anybody? Ideas?

I think you need full newels at the bottom. It looks steep and I checked mine - I have it all the way down and the last 3-4 are the only ones not protected by the wall.

I think you could match either the stairs or the floor. Matching the stairs would continue to give you contrast with the floor and I think that'd be fine. Plus oak would be cheaper than cherry.

Perhaps you could do something in all iron to make it more delicate and less impactful of the view to the DR?

The newels (both sides? I hate to close it in like that) would have to be on the bottom stair, not on the floor though. Too tight, and I don't want to mess up my new floor.

I really think you need to run the railing all the way to the lower step. You may get away with not having it on one side, but it will look better with two. I know that our code would not allow it.

It is hard for me to tell from your photo, but what style is your home? You mentioned Victorian brackets??? Are they for the stairs? Are the threads and risers finished, or do the risers and sides get a coat of paint?

Here is my staircase and the newel ends at the top stair instead of the floor. Perfectly acceptable!

NHB - as usual, I want what you have LOL! We have a modern farmhouse - still in the process of finishing it, it's by no means Victorian, but I'm not in to the "country" decor like plaids, roosters, etc.
Building it:

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/hopeangel02/100_1447.jpg

Started a stone wall under the porch in April

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/hopeangel02/stonewall1.jpg

You can see the dining room is kinda French country with the sheaf-back chairs, our master is Shaker natural cherry, the kitchen is all oak cabinets with sheaf-back Windsor barstools, the breakfast nook (part of family room) has a Hitchcock round dark oak table with Windsor chairs, but the family room has microfiber sofa and loveseat. I'm getting Linen Stripe Roman blinds from JC Penney for that room. Have brushed nickel pendants hanging from track over kitchen island, nickel ceiling fan and track light in bay window in family so back of house is more contemporary. (Here's a picture before we got the microfiber set)

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/hopeangel02/tracklight001.jpg

Builder's brass chandy in DR and brass lighting in foyer - very traditional. Leather sofa in living room is more contemporary

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/hopeangel02/livingroom001.jpg

but my CL tables (if I ever get the scratches out) are more Arts and Crafts/Mission. http://www.asfurniture.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?partNumber=1026836&Nao=1&numberOfResultsPerPage=12&referrer=shelfPage&storeId=10101&catalogId=10154&N=4294967256%2097%204294967157&categoryId=4294967256

We're definitely into clean lines, Shaker, Mission , natural wood, not contemporary. So when I saw your mission newel, I had to laugh b/c I had been thinking of the same thing but half newels. Not sure how the iron would go with the brass lighting though - I'd go more for a flat (maybe tapered) baluster.

Sorry, I keep getting confused about which tag to insert.

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/hopeangel02/100_1447.jpg

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/hopeangel02/stonewall1.jpg

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/hopeangel02/tracklight001.jpg

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/hopeangel02/livingroom001.jpg

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Oh, I wasn't going to paint the risers or stringer since baseboards aren't painted, in fact I finished the dining room side of the stringer and the bottom riser before they put the floor, baseboards and shoemould in the DR. Just a clear coat over the pine. Though looking at the staircase Eye Candy gallery here, I was thinking stenciling (in dark stain) the risers in a scroll pattern to match my foyer tile - kinda 2 checks with a diamond in the middle. But that might be too much.

Maybe just a rectangle to repeat the rectangle pattern at the bottom of the stairs? I'd leave the sides alone - maybe just trim out the underside of the stringers with the same cap I'm using on the top of the stringers (just flat with a tapered edge).

I just want to get the railing up before I worry about decorating the risers.

NHB, I answered your questions about style of home and posted pictures. Can you take another look? Thanks

I'm back!

Your home is so pretty and I have enjoyed looking at your photos. I went through all the links above, before I realized that you were able to post them within the thread. LOL Much easier!

Love that stone wall. I never would have thought of doing that to fill the space between porch and ground.

OK, I can now see that your wood work is clear coated. I thought it was unfinished and you were still working on the house. (BTW - I saw another thread of your children's bathroom and I wanted to tell you that I love those mirrors.) Anyway, I think a smaller version of my newel would look fine on your stairs, but I do agree that you should stick with something simple for the balusters. Stain the balusters and newel to match your stairs, and stain the railing to match your floors if you would like.

Take a look at the photos below that shows two other staircases from my previous home.

I would not do any decorative painting or woodwork on your stairs. That stair/foyer space already has so much going on, from the squares at the landing, to the tile and tile insert. Just stick to simplicity for the railings and you will be fine.

I couldn't find where you answered where the Victorian scroll brackets were going? Are those for the outside of the farmhouse?

Did I answer all your questions?

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The brackets are for the wall rail on these stairs - if you followed the link, you saw they're a simple "S" not anything ornate like Eastlake style. I know some people call the decorative pieces they attach to the side of the stringer "stair brackets", I might have mispoke, but these are rail brackets. The stairs are very narrow, so I'm looking for a flat narrow rail to go on them, by code have to return it to wall at top and bottom so I was looking for something I could return to a half newel at the first wider step (4th step up). Matching half newel on the other side to hide the gap between the tread and the wall. My stairs were prefab, it's a modular house, and the finish work wasn't so good.

So you think the unstained pine stringers/risers look OK? I hate to strip the dining room side and stain them, but if you think darker risers/stringers would look good with the dark floor and lighter oak treads, I'll do it. I just wanted the stringers to match the baseboard. I'll try to take a pic of the dining room side so you can see. Got a bday party for my grandma now - gotta go!

Oh gosh ajsmama ...I didn't even see that link when I read your first post before. DUH!!!

To me, from your photo, the threads look like the color of your floor and the base. If the risers are not already sealed, then I think they would look better darker. If they are sealed, then yes, they look OK.

Perhaps I can tell better from another photo.

Does anyone else have an opinion?

Here's a pic of the dining room

Here's the dining room side of the stringer, stained honey maple to match the baseboard and shoe (the cove base on the underside of the treads is not finished, was thinking making that dark to make it contrast, easier to see for older folks)

And here's a really bad pic of the bottom riser that I finished, the shoe mould came out really light even with 2 coats of gel stain so I just poly'd this riser, no stain. Maybe that was a mistake. But all the other risers, and the foyer side of the stringer, haven't been touched yet.

I got my rail brackets today and I love them!

http://store.horseshoe-hardware.com/19530.html

Thanks for the nice words about my "money pit". We built on 97 acres that's been in my family for 95+ years (my great-uncle says his father and grandfather bought it March 1913, but didn't move til end of April when he was 2 weeks old, so he wasn't born here but close). My uncle bought the neighbors' house 30 years ago, then his uncle sold him about 17-18 acres, my other uncle bought land across the street, my cousin now owns the 1743 farmhouse, barn and 5 acres. I ended up with the back acreage no one else wanted, no frontage, 96 acres in 1 town, 1 acre in another with a rightofway for driveway. So we're building hopefully to stay in the family, wanted it modern and comfortable but definitely "farm". We have so many (falling-down) stone walls in the woods, I figured I'd fill under the porch with rubble from ledge busted up where we built. Eventually we'll clear more and try to restore some of the stone walls that are close to the backyard. DH built some stone retaining walls and a staircase near the back slider, might have to move the top 2 steps since they're too close to the house but I'll post pics of those some time.

Interesting story and so neat to be living on family land.

I like the dining room side of the stairs, so fix the rest like that.

Do you think I should stain the cove base under the treads to match the cherry? What about a cherry railing? And I've got 2 lengths of Brazilian Cherry leaft from my uncle's custom desk (routed on 1 side for pencil groove so have to go with groove against wall, cap to hide top of groove) I can use for newels. Or should I do (part or all) oak?

Whatever you decide upon, if you put a handrail/newel in or not, it's gonna be murder getting a large dresser or a queen-size foundation up those stairs. That's not a great design for a staircase, ending so close to a wall, with no straight access to a door.
Casey

Tell me about it! But we got all the bedroom furniture (including a double dresser and a queen-size boxspring) up there, with minimum of damage. Just can't buy a huge desk or bookcase for the study ;-)

This was the standard modular floor plan - we didn't change the stairs from where they were in their 4-bedroom plan, just changed the coat closet to a pantry and coat closet back-to-back and added a 3x7 powder room next to the living room, so the foyer past the stairs is narrower. We have attic stairs over these stairs though instead of a closet. The study is over the foyer. The upstairs hallway is very narrow, too. The master bedroom door is at the end of the hall farthest from the stairs, it's only a 30" wide door.

But we figured the straight stairs were better than the 90 degree turn ones - would have hated to get furniture around the bend! And wanted the study instead of 2 story foyer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Home plans

Oh, another reason I was thinking half-newels (box type) was b/c there is a gap between the tread and the wall on the foyer side. I can trim out the side of the stringer, but thought it would look best to put a wide-based half newel on that step, to just where the edge starts to curve, to hide the gap. Hopefully no one would notice the gap behind the curved edge of the bullnose. To complicate matters, from the edge of the stringer to the edge of the bullnose is 1/2" wider on one side than the other. As I said, the finish work wasn't very good in this house. I could replace the one tread and actually get it cut to fit the wall. Then I wouldn't have to put any post or trim on top of that step (just trim out the gap underneath, on the foyer side). Any thoughts?