To code renovations of stairs are exceedingly expensive- I think I would start by painting it all white and see if that makes it recede enough that a further 10K goes into the college or trip fund instead of remodeling. I would stain the steps themselves to blend with the other floor finishes and paint all the other components white.

Does anyone have ideas for updating the stair railing without taking it out completely and replacing it.

I doubt it. The railing is very basic dimensional lumber. May be oak but probably is not.

I had also toyed with the idea of taking out the stair railing in the hallway (that runs in front of the basement stairs) and replacing it with some sort of built-in storage unit.

I would not do anything that is permanent or semi permanent in that spot IF you entertain the thought of eventually replacing the stair railing. Because it will likely be in the way & have to be ripped out.

What is the story with the large gap at the lower left of the horizontal railing? It looks to be more than four inches

Unfortunately, there are a lot of conflicting things going on in that entryway: crown molding (traditional), beadboard (Victorian/Edwardian), handrail (70's-80's contemporary), and that barn door and tile flooring (now-ish), and actually none of them work together very well. The handrail itself looks like it would have played pretty well with the kitchen and with your LR furniture than it does with all those other things.

I think it would be a lot cheaper and easier to take down all that beadboard and make the railing look better without those other things than it would be to get into the potential issues of touching the stairs and handrail, which has been mentioned could open up some code compliance issues.

We just removed a railing in our house which was built in 1995 that looks exactly like this. They built stair rails this way because someone with very little skill could throw it together easily. It is fairly common in houses built in the '80's - '90's around here.

It is expensive to replace it as Hallett said, so in the meantime painting it white is probably the best idea. As to Lyndee Lee's comment about the spacing, my husband, who removed ours, said that the spacing between balusters was inconsistent and didn't conform to current code. Once again, they were just doing something quick and dirty. I couldn't stand to look at it any longer. If you're just now moving you will have better things to spend your money on for a while.

I agree too many different styles going on here so as suggested first live there and then remove all the crown and beadboard instantly the wole space will feel more MCM and then the paint the railings to see how that works . I think this can easily lend itself to MCM and if that is what you like stay true to that.All that beadboard has to go and the barn door too. I think to really redo that staircase is going to be pricey so see what you can do without breaking the bank first . This was avery poular way to do railings in that era and I garee a cheap way to handle this. IMO the different flooring in the spaces would be more something that would make me crazy. Myadvice move in and then carefully analyze how this functions for you before doing any big pricey changes so removing the beadboard first item since it really changes no big thing

The stairway goes with the house, its everything else that doesnt go with the remodeled house. The beadboard, the crown moulding, and especially that barn door. The barn door jumps out at you, when you first look at the picture. Nothing wrong with the door itself , just the finish on it.

Thank you all!

I like the idea of just painting it white for now, not touching anything structural, and deciding later on if we do anything more drastic as moving is definitely a $$$ hemorrhage lol. Will try to find some nice furniture to put in front of the railing to solve the storage issue without creating a climbing/fall hazard for my toddler.... if anyone has any brilliant ideas, please let me know!

Definitely agree that there are too many conflicting design things going on in the entryway, thank you for validating this impression as my husband doesn't see it (maybe he just wants to avoid the reno project lol). It really looks awful and clashes. I think the previous owners recognized this as the photos that were up with with the house listing excluded the entryway.

Not sure what's up with the larger opening at the left of the staircase, it wasn't striking in person, so let's hope it's not too big....my youngest is 2 and still at that age where I worry about this type of thing.

Just to add:

I'm also not a fan of the barn door and felt it should be painted or stained another colour initially or taken out altogether, but in person, it didn't seem as out of place and seems functional as it's the door to a laundry room/bathroom that's a bit tight on space (would be worse if the door opened into the bathroom). Will live with it for a while and then decide what to do with it.

The flooring is partially a lighting issue: There's the same grey tiling in the hallway and kitchen and the upstairs and living room/dining room space both have the same hardwood flooring. I like the tiling in the hall as we get a lot of snow which leads to a lot of water and dirt on the floor in the winter here.

i like your house. It feels eclectic, cozy, updated. I’d probably Paint the barn door white same as the wall panelng. And get a new bench. Maybe a kilim covered style.

If you are painting the railing you should (relatively) easily be able to add a picket either to the straight handrail, or to add an extention down from the pickets on the stair runs. Or, as some people have done here with their mid-century railings to child proof them, you could put a piece of plexiglas there.

Here are some of the elements painted out with the railing left natural. That might work, too.

Like this last one of palimpsest. Painting out that barn door makes everything look very nice, and I do like the natural finish on the stairway.

I’d do a bench and a runner to add some color.

https://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Avril-Modern-Southwestern-Upholstered-Bench-18-H-x-48-W-x-16-D/31690574/product.html?opre=1&option=58243540