Thanks for the feedback Palimpsest. I wil try to find something similar looking though it is kind of difficult for me to figure out what relates. Would just finding something in the same color be enough (or possibly i coudl paint them both the same color), or do you think it would need to be closer than that, like have similar lines, etc.? Maybe it will be easier to find a lighting collection with lots of different sizes. bronwynsmom, thanks for the additional food for thought. the staircase is about 42 inches wide, so not super wide. i never even thought about potential issues with moving furniture. I am hesitant to not do sconces there though as everything is already wired. I don't want to create more delays with our project. I guess I will have to pay attention to the projection of the sconces that go there.. sounds like more searching for lights is in order. thanks for your help!

Real wood or engineered. Pre-finished is a good way to go. Clear is a higher grade of hardwood that has less variation in color and more uniform with less knotholes, so not as rustic and busy looking and less of a statement. Character grade has lots of variation and knotholes. It depends on your taste. I tried to find pics of what I suggested and couldn't find the right combo, but this pic shows the lighter flooring used on the risers to tie it in. This shows an interesting riser treatment. The tile could include both wood colors. This shows darker stairs with a contrasting floor that contains the stair color and other lighter colors.

If I’m understanding this correctly, the area between the two sets of stairs is this discontinued floor, the both sets of stairs are carpeted and the main living area (up the stairs) is also the discontinued flooring. Is this correct? If so, eliminate the discontinued flooring in between the two sets of stairs and replace it with whatever you choose to do for the stairs. You can keep the flooring upstairs as it is, but changing the floor at the entry to match the stairs will make it less disjointed and more intentional. Do not try to match it too hard or it will look just like you tried to match it. I would purposely contrast, but it needs to compliment. If you pull a color from the current floor, I would lean more toward light (although hard to tell, I can make out some very subtle light streaks). I would steer clear of the darker tones as dark floors tend to show everything and these sets of stairs happen to be an integral and unavoidable part of the house, which will make the high traffic very conspicuous on dark floors. I also suggest rugs!

The smaller pattern should be on the stairs. When you consider how much of the repeat will show on the stair, the Chateau will look better. Here's some examples of smaller pattern vs. larger pattern Here's the Damask on stairs. It actually gets kind of lost on the stairs as you can't see the pattern repeat well Here's the Chateau, it really pops. But maybe you want it to be more subtle. If so, pick the Damask.