Can you post some pictures of it?

It's hard to tell what's going on to the left of the stair rail. Is there a closet? If not, there ought to be. ;-) First thing to getting it right is getting the sweatshirts and shoes and whatever else gets dumped into some kind of organized storage.

For the wall straight ahead, since it's the first thing you see, I'd fill it with art, either one large picture or a gallery wall.

Can you give us a shot of the other side of the stair rail?

Yes! Love the idea of doing a big gallery wall right when you walk in. You can incorporate both art pieces and family photos to give guests an immediate blast of what your style is. Check out these for inspiration:

Also, a nice storage piece right when you walk in would be ideal so that you can have a place for guests (and yourself) to leave their stuff when they come over.