Carpet on the stairs will help with sound! But if stairs are good enough, just paint them all white! Add a stencil on the riser - numbers or a saying is always fun...or even add family member names. Do you like bold colors? If so, the handrail wall could be a green apple. Something that works w the pretty stain glass. Also upstairs, there looks to be space to make that a built in bookcase. As for under the stairs, you can take out studs but you can build deep shelves and give it a stair step look. If you have large gym bags, make some large enough to fit sliding them in. Whenever we put in storage like that, we add plugs for iPads and cellphones. Easy way to remember to charge them! Also, a narrow bench on wall opposite storage will help w putting on shoes.

Red as it goes so well with black and white! Hope this helps x

You can leave the handrail the same distance from the wall as it is now. Leave it connected to the newel post at the top; remove the newel post at the bottom, and add what's called a 'return' to anchor the bottom end to the wall. Then add a couple of brackets going up the stairs. The challenge is that the return should match the profile of the handrail, in order to blend, but check at the home center or a lumber yard/mill to see if you can match it (take measurements/drawings/close-up photos, etc.). As for painting the stairs--be careful with "fun" graphics. The treads and risers need to be clearly defined and regular. For example, a plaid or check that doesn't match the tread and riser exactly at each step is a trip hazard and may not meet building codes. People need to be able to see the treads clearly even without paying attention to them. Walking is an unconscious activity and we need to make it as easy as possible. Confusing patterns are a menace. In NYC, they put new edges on treads on one stairway at one train station that were designed to make them less slippery. However, they also made it more difficult to discern the edge of the tread. In 6 weeks, more than 1,400 people fell down those stairs. Then they redid them. Over 90% of injuries on stairs happen during descent. I highly recommend Bill Bryson's great book 'At Home--A Short History of Private Life'. The NYC anecdote above came from Chapter 14--'The Stairs'. Fascinating and amusing book. My house is 100 years old, so I feel your pain dealing with the changes and additions that happened over time.

Thanks jacksplash, was going dark but I have floorboards painted the same colour as the stairs is currently, on the landing too and these would then have to be dark also. Worried in case that would make the whole space too dark. Today I was considering a colour darker than the marble on the wall but somewhere on that tone, which could work better upstairs. Questions, questions??? It's the last place to be painted since the renovations but painters leaving next week so I need to get a move on