Hi Thermsen. You must be a lot more easily embarrassed than I am. I don't love that color on your lower wall, but then, I don't hate it, either. It's just a color. Here's my advice: life's too short to be shamed by a paint choice. Which means that whether you go for the dark stain or the black paint on your hand rail, it will probably be OK. You say that the sun won't hit it much, but that when it does, it looks brown. I say if the brown were all that awful in the first place, why did you use it on your floors & cabinets? Or are you going to redo them too. It can't be all that bad. Here's the thing: you say that, with molding stained, your house was looking very traditional--almost as though that's a bad thing--but that the painted balusters give things a cleaner look, and yet, actually, the combination of white balusters & dark railing is about as traditional as you can get. If you're not sure, consult an episode of "Ozzie & Harriet". Besides, traditional & clean are not mutually exclusive. Then again, the wrapped carpet on your steps is neither "traditional" nor particularly "clean", anyway. It just is. But you can't worry about everything: you've got garland to hang. So put away the inappropriate shame over previous choices, knowing that whichever color you decide to use on your rail, it will probably be OK. After all, it's the dark-toned railing's crisp contrast against the white that matters, not the specific color you choose. Just keep repeating, It's only paint... it's only paint..."

The post I mentioned would not be at the bottom tread so the design of a continuous handrail would have to bypass the post to get to a newel at the bottom tread and there would need to be a guard at the new opening whether it be solid, balusters, etc. At first glance it seems a potentially messy solution. Perhaps the handrail could be at the other side and the guard could terminate at the post. The bottom tread should have had returns at each side. Its looks like a abasement stair in the entryway.

I like Racoon Fur BM but maybe not brown looking enough. Satin finish is okay. I will mention painted handrails tend to take a lot of beating so be prepared to do some touching up often especially if you have kids.

@Patricia Colwell I originally was going to post everything in one thread but it would have been all over the place, so I split it by feature. Just trying to get some general ideas (and make sure we have plenty of options) before putting in our offer since its a big investment. I’m sure we won’t do it all at once. I appreciate all the help and ideas for making our dream forever home even dreamier 🥰