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.

My front entry door is from Pella. Looks like wood but isn't. My front also faces west. I have no sun damage at all and the door looks great. https://www.pellabranch.com/windows-doors/doors/entry-doors/fiberglass-entry/

I think smaller or same size, definitely wouldn’t go wider than the cabinet.

OK, you all have convinced me to eliminate the oak look of the risers. While I'm too conservative to paint them, I'm thrilled with the many options for stick on riser decals that can be readily removed, including one with the pattern I've been nuts about for ages! It's called Astra, here. BUT -- back to the newel post/handrail for the upper section of this stairway.....previous comments were that we don't have the open wall for the spindles and we have no place for a newel post. I need to understand if the change I want to make isn't feasible, when it seems to me like it should be...please helps!