I like @kelly's idea of picking a lovely fresh color of paint for the door. You can then bring it down onto the stair risers. Either a solid color to match the front door, or go wild and add some decorative elements to the risers with stencils. Or think of staining the door a great color and coordinate the stair railings and risers. I have an idea book put together for just such project that might spark some ideas for you. http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/16700983/thumbs/Kathryn-Delany-s-Decorative-Stair-Risers

Something like this would be great!

These spaces can look awkward but yours is quite inviting with those windows. It could become a retreat space, that allows someone to be near the action without being in it. Seating or lounging would work with the very low head height. I could imagine it would be a great spot for a couple of cool beanbag seats, a small funky bookshelf and a sleek retro lamp, or if you have children to cater for a games setup with storage in a retro ottoman.

We recently installed a stair runner that we love but we really want to re-stain the floors to a much lighter color. This raises the following questions. Please help if you know!! Can we remove the runner stain the stairs and then reinstall the runner? If not, Could we sand/stain/poly around the runner without ruining the runner? Does it looks really bad if the stair treads are dark brown and the first floor is really light? Thanks in advance for chiming in!