We are painting our upstairs family room. The ceilings are 8 ft. The trim is wood and has not been stained. It is a large room, at 23 ft x 19 ft., which includes a staircase on the north side of the room. My dilemma is whether to paint the staircase. It is currently wood, the railing has been finished by urethane or a clear finish

and the spindles appear to be unfinished wood. The wood has darkened over time. The door to the garage is in a awkward spot and I don't really like the circular iron wall decoration in this location. I am thinking of painting the hand railing and posts. Possibly a darker rich colour for the railing and posts and paint-staining the spindles. I don't know much about paint-stains, but I like the idea of keeping the wood identity of the spindles, but lighting the pine and the knots.

And there is the wooden base board and the stringers to decide to paint or stain. The garage door should be painted the same colour as the walls and the trim surrounding the door removed. The garage door needs to disappear as much as possible ( in my opinion ). Possibly replace the paneled steel door with a door with no panels?

The windows and doors in the living room have been replaced and douglas fir trim added. We have urethaned the trim. My husband is a woodworker and loves the natural look of wood.

So... the question is do we stain or paint the baseboards the same colour as the new Douglas fir window trim or paint the baseboards the same colour as the walls. We have used the Farrow and Ball colour "Joa's White" on the south wall of the livingroom. It is a "safe" colour but calming.

Perhaps a runner on the stairs? What colour for the risers. The runners have been recently refinished.

This a view of the south wall of the livingroom, showing the windows with douglas fir trim. Should the baseboard be painted or stained the same as the window trim or the wall colour.

The crown molding will definitely be painted the wall colour. The 8ft. wall needs to appear higher. Ceilings to be painted same a walls or add 20% of the wall colour to the white ceiling paint? The pot lights are new! I like them but the safety of LED lighting is now in question by some.

Sorry to have taken so long to describe all this. I am in a quandary about how to proceed. Your suggestions are quite welcome!