Paint the rails in white and the handle part in a darker stain.

I agree! painting the rails white and staining the stairs and hand rail will make the stair case pop! Good luck

use a darker stain. painting this would be a travesty

Perfect idea and the picture tells the story.

I like the black and white colors as well. Carolyn has great idea!

Love the black and white. Could also be navy and white, charcoal and white, etc -- depending on what coordinates with your other decor choices.

HI --- Lately I have seen stair rails like yours done all in one dark color . You could do that by painting everything an off black or a dark grey /charcoal . To modernize a bit I would take the colonial round knobs off .

I agree w/ Carolyn as well. I was also inquiring about my staircase this week at our local BM paint shop. The lady suggested painted the railing a brown black (her suggestion was Black Bean Soup by BM). She said a straight black paint would be too harsh.

I like the idea of black and white and you can consider as well a darker brown stairs and a white rail like the photo attached from Houzz.

I also appreciate Carolyn's thoughtful answers to many of the dilemmas. Love the black/white combo, always a classic. You have oak overload and the honey color is very dated. That color seems to limit the paint colors as well. When we removed the carpet off our stairs we painted the riser and stringer white with dark walnut stain on the treads. Looks classy, lots of positive comments. Yes the riser may get skuffed a bit but easily touched up and worth the effort.

Hi, what is going on in the rest of your home if you haven't mention it already?

Thanks for all the comments/ideas! We just purchased this home and don't get it till Oct 15th... the stairs are the first thing you see when you walk thru the front doors, I personally like the black/white combo. Also... when painting the front entrance do I carry the same color up to the second floor hallway? Thanks again for all the feedback... I'm new to this site :) love it!!!

Don't forget, when you paint the stairs, to put some non-sanded grout or other non-slip material in the paint you use for the stair treads. (It needn't be in the paint you use for the handrails.) Painted stairs can sometimes be slippery, and the non-sanded grout will act as a friction agent. You can also get black stair tape.

I would carry the color up to the 2nd floor hallway, since you can see into the hall from the bottom of the stairs. You don't have to do the whole hallway in that color -- you can paint it a different color and use accents of the bottom hall color instead -- but definitely do something to tie the two together.