I'm freshening up the staircase and would like to do something about the stump (see picture). When you stand in the hallway, it almost looks like there's a hole in the floor
The wall and stair railing were previously brown, but we've painted them white as you can see in the picture. I had some black paint left over, so I tested painting the handrail and railing black. The girlfriend thinks it looks terrible and wants everything in white, while I, being half colorblind, think it looks nice

What do you think? How would you have done it?