I agree with Squirrelheaven to a degree. I don't think the woods have to match, but they do need to play nicely together (I can't think of how else to say it). Our wood floors are gunstock oak, but I like the contrast with the dark stair parts as well as the contrast between the floor and the dark maple cabinets. And your light cabinets seem like they would fight against the dark stair parts. BUT, I don't think you can discount the furnishings. When you walk into a furnished home you see it as a whole, not just the structure. So I do think you could get away with it since you have so many dark woods for the stairs to play off of. If you did stain your cabinets darker, the darker stair parts would tie in better, but I know that's a huge job and not something you might even want to think about (or even want to consider)! There was another thread about good decorating books, and a book by Lynette Jennings was recommended. I bought it and loved reading every page of it. One of the things she advises is to do what you love. It's YOUR house, so decorate it the way that makes YOU happy. You don't have to play by any rules. I would stand back and look at your railing with your eyes squinted and imagine it the way you want it and take in the rest of your house with it painted that way. Does that feel right to you? If so, I'd do it! Lynette had so many ways of saying the same thing. One was, "Decorating is fun when you take away the fear and the rules and develop confidence in your own decision-making ability." Another one was, "So stick to your instincts, don't be afraid of the result, and don't fall into measuring your natural selections against what appear to be the commandments of design." So go with your gut, Shee!

Have you thought about replacing all the spindles at the base with one post? Have you thought about adding risers? Something about open staircase feels contemporary. But you could go darker and make a statement out of it. Or do the all white but the hand rail.

We restored our stairs in our 1920 Foursquare. Both the ones to the basement and the ones from the first to second floor. Lots of carpet and padding and tacks from the living space stairs and glued on carpet on each step to the basement. What a horrible job! It took qrts of denatured alcohol to get the glue off. Unfortunately that also melts the original shellac. My painter sanded everything and then applied 2 coats of Sikkens . They are all beautiful now!!! Would never cover them again. pictures in a minute. Before pic 1 st floor carpet off pad still on Before basement but after removing adhesives Risers painted to match walls in adjacent room Kalamata BM. Basement had a plywood piece at bottom so painted same as exterior of house.

I would go back to white on the spindles after painting the risers and scrolls on the stairs white. Current runner is okay but I don't love it with the stain color on the floor or with the white paint, it skews kind of pinky-maroony, which I don't dislike but not with the yellow-brown walnut stain on the floors. I would use the money you save by not switching to trendy metal spindles, (The spindles you have would look much nicer on the inspiration staircase than theirs do, in my opinion. The inspiration is a colonial style stair and handrail with Italianate spindles) --the money you save I would go with a wool runner. Even if they age, they age better.