It is a subtle change, but we spent part of the day adding brass dust corners to the stairs. They were first used in the Victorian era to make cleaning stairs easier. Their shape helps keep clumps of dust and, in our case, pet fur from clumping up in the corners. Since ours are unlacquered they will tarnish and should look like they have always been there.
FYI: They are a huge pain to install. Nailing into the corner proved problematic due to it being such a tight area. Ultimately, I had to pre-drill a hole, then use a nail punch along with the smallest hammer I own.