Personally, I don't think it's necessary for you handrails to match your floor. Nice wood floors are sort of like bluejeans, in that they usually work well with other things. My handrails are a beautiful decorative blond wood, and they have never matched my floor. However, if your handrails/stairs are a major focal point of your room, you may feel that they should match to unify the space. In any case, it's your house and you should do whatever you think you'd like best!

I encourage you to live with it for awhile before you decide on anything. I had the same situation in carpet against my marble when I built 14 years ago but I lived with it until just last year when I tore out the carpet and got laminate. I would hate to see you paint the stained wood on your stairs. I think the balance is striking against the white and once it's painted it is VERY difficult to go back. As suggested, when you replace the carpet, that would be the time to use get a closer match to flooring which I agree would look nicer. Since the floor appears darker, a good sanding on the rail and stairs with medium grit paper would remove the varnish/poly and some stain and you could then darken it to match the flooring. Until then, consider adding some accents that bring out the golden oak color and "justify" that wood color in the foyer. Perhaps a small table or bench or anything that compliments the color of the stairs. Over time, I can assure you that it will become less predominant (as you have found) and your eye will focus more on the total impression. Also, you could provide a more spectacular focal piece in that area that draws the eye in a different direction. JMHO.

Wow, so many replies. Thank you. Just to clarify , the wood that we put on each side of the cabinets to fill in that space ony has primer on it now. The molding and baseboards are painted cloud white, which seems to be a little to white for the cabinets. I was out today and picked up BM Swiss Coffee and Behr Swiss Coffee. Lisa Mocha you mention BM Swiss coffee but I read when googling that it is Behr Swiss Coffee which is the match so I got both and when I go to my daughters I will hold them up against the cabinets and see.

It depends on the look you are going for. While I love the first photo CDR posted just above here, your staircase is different (with more posts). Examples I could find on Pinterest. All painted light. All painted dark (not crazy about the dark risers, or this as a whole) Painted spindles and newel posts, with stained handrail Here are some examples where the stairs are more like yours. (Still not crazy about it, too much contrast, and I usually like contrast.) Looks unfinished to me. This looks more like a before to me, but it's an after. Too cage-like, too dark. Done with gel stain. I think painting all white ends up looking builder's grade, especially with these tiny posts. (The after - they replaced small newel posts with more substainal posts and did dark handrails and wood stairs.) Similar to yours, but more decorative finials.