Sorry no pictures shown but depending on your lighting situation the sky's the limit. Treat the basement like it is your main floor and try to incorporate the same colour schemes and design elements so the spaces feel unified. If you have wainscotting or panel moulding upstairs, make sure that you have it downstairs too. If you have blinds or shutters upstairs try to do that downstairs too. Nothing is worse than having a basement feel like a basement. God love them, kid's messes means happy, rambunctious kids at play. Never apologize. Good Luck with your project.

You can make a scuff mark cleaner with a tennis ball and a broom handle. I looked at painted stairs in Houzz and I like the brown step/white riser look. You will want a semi-gloss paint for durability no matter what color you use, but I like the idea of risers that match the color of the basement walls. Wall color does not have to be white to bounce limited light. Any pastel (which includes pale beige and gray) will do the trick. Below are Sherwin-Williams colors as displayed in their ColorSnap Visualizer.

No grays. A blue-ish green might be nice. Stay light though since it’s in a basement. Download the Color Visualizer App and you can play around will all kinds of colors. Here’s an example.

Lighting is key in a basement - plenty, different styles and dimmers. Ours is a traditional non-walkout or English one. We’ve used color to define areas within a greatroom concept. Hopefully this will provide some ideas. https://youtu.be/3FqMEqaf0-I