Here's a lot of inspiration for you https://www.houzz.com/photos/wall-paneling-staircase-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_745~a_3406-20867?pg=2

See #3 here, I think it's lovely https://www.thespruce.com/wall-paneling-ideas-7504771

Thank you! Hadn’t seen that thread

You really should treat the wall as a whole and how you address depends on your style. The problem is having enough room at the top of the stairs for an application to work, such as this one which would just be a continuation.

I like the look up the stairs.

First of all, it looks like there is a slightly vaulted ceiling in the pic. Is the ceiling horizontal behind the sofa?

If it is, I think you can change up the wainscoting height, but you need to plan it out and test it. You can draw lines on the wall as long as you don’t mind re-painting it. Or try the lines out with blue painter’s tape.

You could take the wainscoting to 3/4 height on the lower level if you like. If you do wainscot slightly higher than stair rail on the stairs, you might need art or something on the wall above it. It could look nice, but you need to test the design and color and see if the coverage feels balanced.

I feel like elaborate wall molding is going to look out of place in a house with as little millwork as yours, not even crown. Are you sure you're not trying to graft a more formal country-house style onto your simple urban townhouse?

Thanks, both. @acm, it’s a fair point. The house itself feels somewhat more traditional/formal inside, but I think the walls don’t reflect that. Maybe adding crown molding in other parts of the room would help the wainscoting feel more cohesive

Here’s a photo of the room before we moved in. (Fwiw, I prefer the old color, but we now have gray walls.)

Waht is your style of decor not the buildings style. I like those inspiration pics but I think once you open that can of worms then many things will need to change IMO Forinstance all the baseboards then probably the railings and spindles for the stairs I think once you go down that road it leads to a lot of changes so if you are into that then go for it. I do lobe the whole wall one but for me a huge piece of art would be more my style. So some idea of your style please . Post that info here in a commen t DO NOT start another post.

I lived in a row house (Philly) with super narrow stairs like yours. Wainscoting on that wall would have been overkill in that skinny stairwell and I think it will be in yours too. Instead I would 1) Put something really attractive on the wall over the bench, and 2) make the stair triangle a focal point.

The triangle of our staircase had a wainscoting treatment on it that was original to the 1852 house. I think it would look good on yours too. Here is a pic of something similar on Zillow. I like that the staircase triangle is painted white instead of the grey wall color and that the wood railing is stained darker. The wainscoting on the triangle gives a handsome punch and makes the stairs a real focal point in the wider part of this room rather than cramming it into the skinny stairwell.

Getting a great flush mount light for this area could kick things up a notch too.

Your inspiration pics and those posted below are of wide rooms with light pouring in or staged big hallways. Context is everything. Here is a treatment of wainscoting halfway up the stairwell like you are thinking about in an actual row house with skinny stairs and a low ceiling. I don't think it looks good. Way too much in too little of a space.