In 1800s-early 1900s houses, it was common to have different woods on floors ... with the degree of expensiveness declining as you went away from public areas.

I lived near one house where the flooring changed from rare hardwoods (inlaid, of course) in the areas visitors would see, to good oak in the family's bedrooms and private areas, to pine planks in the servants quarters. The moldings going up the staircases declined in ornateness with each floor, too. Carved walnut became less ornate oak became plain poplar painted wainscoting as you went up.

Often the lower floor's flooring was continued up a staircase, with the change taking place as you stepped onto the next floor. Or at least until the wood was out of sight of the guests ... I have seen staircases where the switch happened at the landing because the upper part of the stairs was out of sight.

"The stairs go halfway up to a landing, then 180 degree turn to go up the rest of the way, if that matters. "

Take some photos and spend time with an editing software: maybe light wood on the stairs would be a nice contrast, maybe not. Maybe painting the risers to match the moldings and having dark tread would look best. Or match the risers to the lower floor color and the treads to the upper floor

Lots of choices and none of them are "wrong".

First off, do you like the color of the downstairs floors? Because now's the time to make a change if you don't!

Agreed that no choice is wrong. Personally if you are going to keep the downstairs floors as they are I would carry the downstairs color all the way up the stairs. 50/50 on painting the risers. Either could look good depending on the rest of your decor. For some reason upstairs-a-different-color is more intuitive to me than the stairs changing color.

You could get away with the one light bedroom if you want the rest to be dark. By the time you get furniture and an area rug in there, it will barely be noticeable.

We were faced with a similar situation altho chose to keep carpet on the stairs (replaced with new) as otherwise it would have required an extensive (and expensive) reno of the stairs themselves. Have you had expert advice on this?

If you can replace the carpeted stairs with wood I would do option B.

Hi! Would like to ask for your expertise. Our formal dining & living room has hardwood floors & we're planning to do an LVT in the second level of the house. What would be best for the staircase?

Hardwood to match the downstairs. You need to post your own thread to get opinions, tho.