Decorating Help Needed

I would love some advice. I'm ready to fix my hallway. I need something that is durable, bright, and clean. I am thinking of white wallpaper. Either white but with a textured paper, or white with a tiny flower pattern.  Keep in mind the walls are plaster and cracked, not straight, and bumpy. This is why I'm thinking wallpaper. I think it will hide the cracks that show up every year in the same spots.


This is the view of my hallway from my very yellow dining room. My sunporch is through that door. I wallpapered by the door, and on the left with leftover paper from my old house. I really like it. My problem is now I need to do something with the wall to the right and the wall going up the stairs.

Here is a bit better look at the wall on the right. It has crayon written on it.

Here is the view from my sunporch looking back at my dining room.  The banister is the original wood from the 1800s. That I will keep. I think the stairs look silly painted a dark colour that does not match the banister. Ièm (how did I press the french keyboardÉ)  anyway...ignore the french letters.  So anyway, Ièll be sanding the stairs down to the original wood, so it looks more natural. The banister is not quite as orange as it seems in this picture. 

You can see the wall on the right heading upstairs. The crack in the wall comes and goes and I want to hide it. I also need something a little less institutional. As you can see the upstairs is just as drab. There is another huge wall of the same colour upstairs.

Ideas please.