Sorry for the confusion. Let's see if I can clear it all up. We are planning to replace all of our floors, and also put hardwood on the staircase, and maybe replace the bannister depending on the cost considerations. The modern picture in the post contains the same flooring hardwood color as our new floors. We were also initially planning to match our stairs and the staircase/bannister to the light hardwood flooring. Upon seeing the modern pic above, we are now desperate to achieve the same look of matching the hardwood flooring with the walnut(?) stairs and also add the distinct accented walnut bull nosing. Upon further investigation, we discovered that Tempered Glass railings are prohibitively expensive in our area. So, we were hoping to use the same walnut stain on the stairs as depicted in the modern picture above, and somehow attempt to match wooden bannisters and spindles to those floors. I was hoping you could advise as to what kind of bannister and wooden/metal spindles would work best with the walnut stairs, and light hardwood flooring. I am also entirely terrible with colors. Are the stairs in the picture look walnut color? Worth nothing, we are aiming for a modern, minimalistic/clean, mid-century look throughout the rest of the house. On the staircase you see in the "current house" picture, I was hoping to get rid of the swirl at the end of the railing. Thanks in advance!

The entire second floor is the same color as the stairs, so I would like to leave the stairs alone. Eventually, I would like to put a runner on the stairs to minimize the contrast, but need a banister color that would go well with both floor colors.

I would contact a stair company and see what can be done withing your budget . Lighting is IMO more important to start with so a good electrician can do wonders for more lighting. I would also suggest LEDs in 4000K for all of the lighting you do,Before opening that wall up for a railing think about the space above and how it is used and by whom. If this is walkway from bedrooms to bathroom you might no want it opendepending on who lives in the home. I know how badly people want to do something to make a home theirs but you need to stop and live in the space for a while before doing anything major and if this stairway is a big deal for you then forget wall paint color for now. The pot lights in the kitchen are an easy start to improving lighting so change all those bulbs to LED 4000K you will instantly see a big difference in the amount of light there.Then tackle the flooring and have a plan for that since carpet is IMO not a good choice. A new house is always fun to tackle but you need a very good plan before doing anything.

Houzz won’t let me edit my post.. the carpet is being replaced with a TBD neutral. Can’t do wood stairs at this time.. plywood is under carpet.