Do you plan on changing the tone of the whole house?

jhmarie, yes, I do. I painted the whole house light shade of gray, SW Collonade gray. It used to be all dark and deep colors.

G N Builders, thank you. In terms of patience, I am not doing it myself but my painter does need it for sure just to deal with me.

I guess, here is what I am confused about. I have handrail on right side and wall on left. Will it look odd if I do black stair stringer on the handrail side(as in 2nd pic) and do white stair stringer on the wall side?

Yes, that will look strange. You can do it, but it's not typical. What you're looking for is symmetry in the finished product. Even though you don't have spindles and a rail on the wall side, paint the baseboards as if you do. If you paint the right baseboard white, paint the left white. If you paint the right baseboards black, do the same on the left.

I hope this helps! You can definitely hand the photo of the stairs you like to the painter and say, "Do this."

Everything black but the spindles, they will be white.

Here's the other side of you photo if it helps. they used a java stain, not black. (but I like the idea of your black paint better)

looks like they switched to white against the wall going up. to keep it even, do the wall portion on the left the same dark as on the right. Or do both sides white. up to you

close up shot of the inside

https://www.makeit-loveit.com/how-to-stainpaint-an-oak-banister-the-shortcut-method-no-sanding-needed/

you could also do it like they've don't here. the base is white

a few others where they did white

If you're doing a runner w/the treads showing, stain the treads or paint them black like this pic shows and do risers white. Or, risers black and treads a darker stain. (like below pic)

another option is to paint the spindles black

Beth H., thank you so much for the photos and the link to the blog.

I am gonna have gray carpets so that's why wanted the black on the posts as well as the base.

And you are right. Going up, they switched to white stringers on the wall side leaving all black paint on the railing sides and that's exactly why i got confused. I thought may be it matters if you have handrails or not.

WHITE ON WALL SIDE

BLACK ON RAILING SIDE

I am gonna go with same colors stringers on both side as everyone is suggesting here.

One last qs. Hopefully!!

If I decide for black stringers, would it look too much black with black stringers, black base and black molding? Like this close up provided by Beth H.

Love the black ..but it will show dust all the time !

I do not envy the poor painter!