Thank you for the feedback and Jlc, thank you for the pics. Pretty much the look I'm going for. Just spoke with my DH and we may have mis-understood the quote. I'd thought $4k was for painted spindles and stained handrail, but my husband now says no, that's to have all stained.(He thinks...:)) We're contracting painter for clarification, and am hoping in the end that we will go with painted white spindles and posts and a darker stained handrail....we shall see!

When stain is applied correctly, it is absorbed into the grain of the wood. Woods with more dense grain(like maple) absorb less stain, so sanding is generally less time consuming. Wood can be stained darker, but not lighter. Stain will not be absorbed through any finish(save what is called a wash coat of shellac which is used to minimize blotching). Blotching occurs when a section of the wood absorbs more stain than surrounding areas because of the grain density. Softer woods(pine/etc) and open grain woods(oak/ash/etc) tend to blotch more than more dense grained wood. Sanding finish can be quite time consuming and expensive, especially when the old finish gums up the sand paper. Which happens more times than not as a rule. Scratch coat sanding is an exception, since the finish is not removed, but just roughed up so primer can adhere better.

Home inspectors when I've sold houses before, note when things are not to code and with our previous minor issues (like a hand rail being too thin?), they don't prevent the sale of the house, they just alert the buyer. Anyways, not concerned about this specific picture's accordance to code, just looking for the cost estimate. Palimpsest - thanks! That's what I was estimating in my head, great to know!!!

Painting will not look right and it will not hold up. There are firms that will come in and spray (refinish) your treads and bannister because that is what I did. Then you can paint the spindles. My staircase was similar all one color from 1970s.