It looks as if you need bicycle storage. The space under the stairs would be excellent for that. How about a bannister in the color of your mid-century modern dining room furniture, if that is yours, and keep the metal bannisters metal-colored.

You may need to bring the baluster spacing up to modern safety codes. Check with local building code people at city hall before making changes. You might look at some glass-walled staircases for a completely new look.

Do you want to keep them open stairs, or enclose them? Do you want a more traditional look, modern, industrial?
http://houzz.com/photos/1969983

Thank you for your comments. Right now, I am thinking of keeping them open, but am not even locked on that, if I can't come up with something that makes sense. I have thought about doing the railings and treads in a cherry and the rest in black to match the dining room table but am a little worried about making that look good with a floor in a year or two when it is time to do them. My style is eclectic - American yard sale meets 1970's town home. The only part I don't like is the 1970's town home . Lol. I would even consider something a little off beat perhaps evens painted steps???. I would love not to have what everybody else has, but by the same token, I don't want over the top(whatever that is). And it needs to be for the long haul -not something that will need to be redone in a few years ( unless it's paint)

And I do need the bike storage there, but I can live with that.

This is interesting, to enclose part and leave rest open. Storage area under the landing and can build shelves into sides of the stair portion.
http://houzz.com/photos/1178093

Sootsprite, can you say more about your idea? I had thought about closing part of it in and or creating shelves above the bike area but can't really get an idea to come together. Also thought about trying to make shelves look built in on dining room side but as I said, can't quite bring it together.

Get some cool jute rope and weave it through somehow to update it and close the gap some...be creative you can take it down if you don't like it

As it's an existing condition, there's no need to update to modern codes. This is a lovely, modern stair that just needs minor updating, in my opinion. If budget allows, replace the treads and landing completely with solid fir (or other attractive wood of your choice) with a nice clear finish to show off the grain and colour of the natural wood. Thickness will be determined by your existing stair rise. You could replace the handrails with wood to match the treads or leave them (and the metal balustrades) their current colour as a contrast.

Hi Elaine. In this example, the bottom portion is closed in, there is storage in the back of the unit, and shelves on the "outside" wall. The upper portion of steps is still open, to keep some of the period influence.
http://houzz.com/photos/1438649

Here is a more modern version, with the bookcase and the stairs remain completely open
http://houzz.com/photos/2364140

This example is interesting and fun, with the case a center support and the trees extending beyond
http://houzz.com/photos/4963318

Final one for now, I really like this look
http://houzz.com/photos/1046136

Search "stair shelves" and narrow the style to modern; there are many great ideas!

Thank you so much sootsprite. I especially love the partially enclosed one.

HI -- Elaine -- I love the look of the stairs and I hate open stairs . And this is not the worst of 70's design I've seen. If you want to do some thing different than the neighbors then maybe you could .... use Ipe -wood or something that has a strong long wood grain . Then how about having a metal mesh or acrylic or glass ( could be colored or textured ) as a back riser . It will close the stairs in a bit but not visually and it's new and modern . The rest could be painted a dark color like black or a bronze . The stairs should be their own statement and not match your dining set or anything else .

My dilemma is similar...I would like to keep the open stair but I'd like to wrap each individual stair with carpet like a runner. Has anyone ever seen that done? I've been searching for photos but haven't seen any.