I encourage you to live with it for awhile before you decide on anything. I had the same situation in carpet against my marble when I built 14 years ago but I lived with it until just last year when I tore out the carpet and got laminate. I would hate to see you paint the stained wood on your stairs. I think the balance is striking against the white and once it's painted it is VERY difficult to go back. As suggested, when you replace the carpet, that would be the time to use get a closer match to flooring which I agree would look nicer. Since the floor appears darker, a good sanding on the rail and stairs with medium grit paper would remove the varnish/poly and some stain and you could then darken it to match the flooring. Until then, consider adding some accents that bring out the golden oak color and "justify" that wood color in the foyer. Perhaps a small table or bench or anything that compliments the color of the stairs. Over time, I can assure you that it will become less predominant (as you have found) and your eye will focus more on the total impression. Also, you could provide a more spectacular focal piece in that area that draws the eye in a different direction. JMHO.

Honestly, people were just hardier in days of yore. My very scary, steep, hardwood floor staircase in my 1913 bungalow had no signs of ever having a handrail. I installed one for ME, no kids involved. I had a handyman put up one that looked just like Marie's above. When I moved from that house, I took it off to get my furniture down. Pretty simple actually. To be honest I would not use a velvet or other rope. I need something to really grab onto if I slip on the hardwood floors; not something that could rip or pull away. Oh, I also found that investing in non-slip socks is a must!

Thank you Saypoint. Oh I like those brackets much better than my white ones and prefer without the wall plate. I like your newel too. Have you ever had a shirt (darn hoodie or comfy sweater pockets) get caught up on the rail? It might just be a me issue with my kitchen cabinet knobs and my short height! I'm wondering now why we have the railing going into wall plates. Do you think it has anything to do with extra support because my railing is so long? Actually the bottom of rail is directly into the wall. This one looks a little thicker than mine. If I'm going to keep the same spindles with the square I'm assuming I should repeat the square part in the newel. Saypoint I really like your newel paired with those spindles. I think I prefer that over the blockiness (is that a word?) of what I have going on currently.

I’m not the OP but this question relates to my current dilemma. We are replacing treads on stairs and the “discussion” is stuck on the risers. Should they be stained to match or painted white. I have seen both but it seems more recent design is going with stained risers. Since the last time we tried to redo these stairs was 13 years ago and we couldn’t agree on a lot of things and scrapped the project, I don’t want to get stuck again. The pics are of our staircase ripped out carpeting, a pic with stained risers, and a pic with painted risers. Since we are going through the work and expense, I want to make sure we aren’t putting in dated design from the get go. The other point we are discussing is wood spindles vs metal.