If there is a storage cupboard underneath the stairs, then I think its best to let go of the open risers. At the end of the day when it comes to stairs, I think you need to make simple decisions, don't complicate it. Sometimes spaces fuss over stairs and they can look great, but they are very impractical, expensive and dangerous. I think if you live in a house with no kids and no elderly, then you can lash out and go for something with more design risk. I think the timber stair profile shown in your picture looks great, and would work well with your vertical timber beam balustrade. However timber stairs can be noisy and quite slippery. If you are using carpet upstairs then you could consider running carpet all the way down the stairs. Don't do the half half thing. In order to finish the edge of the stairs neatly, I would edge the stairs with the plaster finish continuing from the cupboard wall, all the way up to the edge of the stairs and making an edge profile for the carpet to be neatly tucked into. By doing this you could still get the stepping silhouette which would look very cool. Then the beams could run off the plaster surface and not the edge of the carpet. Ultimately carpet may be annoying to have to vacuum, but it is a lot quieter, considerably cheaper and safer than timber stairs. Hope that helps. Good luck with it.

I came across your post and I think we have the same house! I was just pondering whether to paint or not. What was your verdict on painting the beams? I was leaning toward preserving the mission brown.

May I suggest that you look up the NCC Volume 2 which specifies the safety design parameters for stairs and balustrades. Any new work done on stairs and balustrades must comply with the code. You need to look up sections 3.9.1 and 3.9.2 In summary, whatever method you look to you can't be able to pass a 125mm sphere through any part of the stair or balustrade. It also specifies the design parameters for wire balustrades to achieve the 125mm sphere rule. The design challenges for stairs are significant if you want the open back tread look. The easiest way is to install a block on the underside of the tread level with the back edge of the tread below. This way you can still have an open tread and achieve compliance. The harder problem occurs when using a wire balustrade and the resolving the gap that occurs between the treads and the lowest wire. I have seen several installations of late where the 125mm rule was very clearly not achieved. One was a very recent build and I'm still not sure how it passed the final inspection. The images from Miami Stainless show how this can be achieved. Clearly the best and most secure is the glass balustrade and the vertical bar balustrade. Good luck!

yep agree, what you are liking is going to cost way more, what your allowance for is for budget/flagfall/basic detail. Maybe 30K suggestion a little inflated for this but certainly 10-15K min Depends upon who, material chosen and extent of finish...possibly you may be able to get away with some quality carpentry to tackle a similar balustrade idea rather than getting a (more expensive) joinery shop to do it, because if it was joinery w' clear 2 pac'd timber screens then arguably yes the number would get pretty scary pretty quickly. You can achieve the screen effect in various ways, but expect to tip in 3-4 times the number allowed at this stage............costs aside though, if it's a U shape set-up, (without knowing how it's planned/positioned etc,) unless you have a fully exposed side (in a significant aspect of the residence), it's questionable whether you'll get the effect you're after and hence if it's the best way to spend money on the screen balustrade - they're a great detail, lovely internal textural element, but arguably best/most striking when implemented on single runs like in the images......