We took down part of the wall the builders put up in the downstairs stairwell to open it up. By code we need to have a continuous bannister on one side or the other of the stairs. On the right side, the stairwell is wider right at the top then soon comes in when we clear the concrete foundation area. On the left side, the wall is flush at the top, but cuts out where we cut out the wall under the opening between floors. We haven't as yet seen anything that both looks good and conforms to code.