the great staircase conundrum of 2010

this photo was found on design*sponge. i LOVE orange (have i mentioned that before?), so this one is right up my alley. i'm wondering how it would go with the rest of the house...i might have to rework things a bit...
this photo was found on design*sponge. i love orla kiely (i stalked every target store when she had a line there!) and love this design, but i'm wondering if this might be nearly as time consuming as refinishing the stairs. i'll have to do some research.

this photo was taken from Domino magazine. i really like the funky colors, but don't think i could get my husband on board with something this drastic.
this is a photo from orla kiely's home (i'm not coming off as too obsessed, right?). it was taken from a photo in living, etc. magazine. i think this would look pretty good with our current decor.
this photo was also taken from living, etc. magazine. it's pretty similar to the other multi-colored stair photo, but i liked the shot so i thought i'd include it.

as i mentioned in the last post, we still haven't refinished the stairs (almost 3 years later). we really should have done it when we weren't living in the house yet. my bedroom, craft room, and office is upstairs, so refinishing the stairs would mean A LOT of time away from my favorite spots. my latest plot is to paint and/or wallpaper them. i started snooping around online, and found a lot of really great ideas. any thoughts?