The runnerless one is so much prettier, IMO. Here's a B&A of one I helped with on Houzz a couple of years ago. She kept her carpet runner even though she had all hardwood in the living and entry area. Risers and treads were white. Main change for her was black railings and newel posts. What do your new floors look like?

I love love white risers. BUT if you really intend to put a runner "down the road" and you like the look of the model home picture, then painting the risers white will never give you that look.

Thanks for your comments. My floors on main level will be 5 inch wide hand scraped hickory in a dark brown color. In looking at pictures it looks like it is ok to have banister and treads be slightly darker than floors even- is that correct?

Your current stairs and floors look wonderful.....so much better than the dark ones! Is your heart set on dark floors? Have you read all of the posts regarding dark floors? ( they can make your house dark and are SO much more difficult to keep clean looking). I would seriously keep your current, beautiful color..

My picture posted does not show flooring. I think you are looking at picture someone posted with white staircase (risers and treads). Current flooring is gunstock (oak) and we are very tired of it (after 17 years) and like the wider flooring as well.

White risers get scuffed and marked up very quickly; just something to consider.

This is the picture that I think shows beautiful floors.

I should say...stairs. I figure that they match the floor?

One thing to keep in mind with handscraped floors is that if they need refinishing, the handscraped look gets sanded away. I prefer a white riser but they do tend to get scuffed up without a runner.