Home Improvement

now what

You should replace it with a guardrail. Safety is no joke.

A handrail should go all the way to the top of the stairs. And a guardrail should surround the stairs so you cannot fall into them.

Edit: You are going to get destroyed during the home inspection when you sell the place. You will be putting a handrail and guardrails there at that point.

You can also add half-height sliding closets along the vertical sections of far wall there. It's a good height for hanging clothes. Punch a hole in the wall, add a new wall further back and add sliding closet doors. Don't forget to insulate behind your new closet.

Edit: Crawl back behind there first and verify there aren't studs there. If so, you don't want to cut through them without a professional telling you if they are structural or there just to back the drywall.