Hi Emily,
Thank you for your response. I've attached some images to get the conversation started!! I'm not sure if a bookcase would work because I have a chandelier in the hallway. What do you think?

Think of something other than a chandelier. Maybe some spotlights highlighting the upstairs and leading visitors and the eye upwards. Throw something dramatic over the railing: an Oriental type rug or a tapestry. Is this a "raised ranch" and the entrance leads down as well as up? What do you have on the wall opposite the door? How about a mirror with a shelf underneath and some nice lighting. I think a bookcase would limit the light and be too divisive. Can you bear a screen of some sort: Indian wood carved or maybe something modern? Teach the little one that he/she is not to touch Mommy's stuff. Looks like you have kind of plain carpeting on the stairs. How about replacing that with something colorful which would be more forgiving of stains. The raised ranches are great to live in but difficult to decorate.

If you are leaning modern a glass wall would look amazing and toddler proof!!

I would invest in building a solid wall, and move the sofa away from the opening if possible.

Is there any way at all that you could relocate the sofa?

@drnd, Yes, the entrance leads up and down. Opposite the door is just a wall. I do not have anything there at the moment. Yes, I'm finding it very difficult to decorate. @betsyweisber I like the modern glass look vs. the old white railings that I have at the moment. @dytecture..if I were to build a solid wall, do you recommend that I go to the ceiling? Unfortunately I don't really have any other place to put the couch because the other walls have the television, the loveseat, and the chair with the ottoman.

Put a mirror on the blank wall, w/ maybe a shelf for flowers or whatever. i love glass walls but don't think they are toddler proof.

I too have a split entry. My tv is on the short wall. Have had tall bookcases there and hung grandmas quilt on the backside , loved it had my 55 gallon fish tank against it.
Don't fret over the toddler, i had a daycare and raised two children without one going over that scary railing,short wall. I am remodeling and thinking of a wall to the ceiling there to give more photo space on entry wall. Just some thoughts.

Love the GM;s quilt idea and the fish tank.

HI --- We had the same problem so we changed the room a round. I don't like coming into a split entry and looking at the back of the sofa. The railings are dated so maybe replace them with ones that are 42 inches high , That should make it too high for the child to crawl over. A full wall of tempered glass would look nice and modern , it would be awsome.

I think the tempered glass is the most attractive solution, but also pretty expensive. I would definitely relocate the sofa for now--nobody can ever watch a toddler THAT carefully, and it only takes a few seconds for them to be up and over the back of that sofa. If you don't like the idea of a solid wall, you could build a wall 42 inches high in the center, and enclose both ends. so that you had a large opening behind the sofa, like a pass through from a kitchen to a dining room. Make the opening a size that would work with standard wooden shutters, and install the shutters so that you could keep them closed for safety now, and when you no longer need to worry about it, you could open the shutters and have a more open look again.

I would just pull the sofa farther away from the railing. There should be plenty of room to do that in a split level, even with the pieces of furniture you have mentioned. For other ideas, can we see the rest of the room so we can determine the style of your furniture pieces and accessories? That might give us some other ideas and also allow us to help you with your space planning, which seems to be more of the problem here.

I like the idea of the 42 inch high wall. What does tempered glass look like? I will post a picture for you to see the rest of the room. I just had the house painted and so I'm lacking accessories at the moment.

HI -- Tempered glass is safe to use around children and it is what is used on shower doors , mall doors etc. Tempered is treated so if it breaks it does not shear like regular glass but crumbles into small marbles like pieces. There are lots of examples on Houzz that show glass stairway walls.

My daughter and her husband bought a split level last summer. It has a half wall where the one in the photo has iron railing and my 14 month old grandson is a climber! The had the couch with its back up to the wall, but he can easily climb the couch so its now pulled out away from the wall. He uses toys and anything he can to climb up. We're looking for a solution also. I've suggested half inch thick plexiglass be mounted to the living room side of the wall, all the way to the ceiling to keep our little monkey safe. He hasn't tried climbing over the baby gate at the top of the stairs yet, but we fear that is coming too.

We used to have a split level house. We had a full wall where your railing is. Loved it and it was a perfect spot fot our Christmas tree every year :)

Sofa table behind the sofa with two lamps on the table....

Hi, we have the same problem with a split level and climbing toddlers. Did anyone find good solutions? We have solid half walls, and I'm thinking of adding about two foot lengths of glass running on top of the half walls. My son is rambunctious, climbs everything, and tried diving over our gate. I work in the field of early childhood education, and for now we need obstacles until his brain can comprehend consequences and self control. Would plexiglass work too?

I would move the sofa away ... and if it's impossible then build a glass railings which are hard to climb on

@outshopping422 Do you have any photos of your old split level house with the full wall instead of half wall? I'm having a hard time picturing that and wondering if that made the house feel more crowded and less light?

@emaz1088 did you ever put the glass on top of half walls? I'd love to see pictures.

Hi tiffe17...we lived in that house over 25 years ago...this is the best pic I could find. We had a full wall where the railing and couch is in the original posters pics. The small railing you see in my pic is for the stairs going down. My front door is behind that wall. It is where the original poster's front door is. There was plenty of light because of all the windows in the living room, kitchen and dining room. Plenty of light by the front door too because we had big french doors in the family room and the front door had side lights. I hope this helps :)