I have a raised ranch, with a split entry at the corner of the house, 5 steps up to the living room, and 5 down to a finished basement.

It used to have a bookcase divider at the top of the stairs, and a wrought-iron railing on the open side of the stairs. As part of our renovation, we removed the divider, planning to put a railing to replace the bookcase. We also removed the wrought-iron as well, as we were planning on putting up wooden railings on both sides.

We have had issues with getting the railing replaced, but meanwhile I have sort of enjoyed the openness, being able to go down the top step from the side, and being able to put stuff down when I come in the door, and to get a nice open view of the living room from the doorway. Pics sort of show the situation.

After living with this really open plan for a while, I know we need a handrail at the open side of the stairs, but it would be nice if we could put less than a full railing along the "balcony", maybe only coming to the second-from-the top step?

I was also wrestling on whether to have balusters go all the way to the floor, or whether a shoe rail would be nice. I had also thought of replacing the wrought-iron rake railing along the stairs, and getting another to attach at the "balcony" side. So as you can see, i am rather confused. Any thoughts?

In any case, attaching the free newel at the top of the stairs is presenting a problem, and it looks like attachment on top of the floor is the only reasonable alternative (rather than cutting down into the structure below), but that is another issue.