Hard Finishes vs. Soft Finishes: What’s Included in Your Interior Design Package?

Oct 18

3 min read

Updated: Oct 19

When you hire an interior designer, what exactly are you hiring them to select?

Cabinetry? Furniture? Lighting? The beautiful dishes inside the glass cabinets?

The answer depends on your project. At Kristine Krupa Interiors, most of my kitchen, bathroom, and construction design packages focus on hard finishes. But I also design with soft finishes, and some projects revolve entirely around them.

Understanding the difference helps you choose the right services—and know what to expect along the way.

Hard Finishes: The Foundation of Your Home

Hard finishes are the permanent elements that become part of the house. A helpful way to think about them is: What would typically stay behind if you sold your home?

In a kitchen, that includes cabinetry, countertops, backsplash tile, flooring, plumbing fixtures, installed lighting, and architectural details.

These selections account for the overwhelming majority of the work in most of my construction and remodeling projects.

This is where I spend most of my time and energy: creating a cohesive plan for the elements you’ll live with every day—and that are often expensive or disruptive to change later.

Soft Finishes: The Pieces That Make It Feel Like Home

“Soft finishes” doesn’t mean everything is literally soft. In my services, the term includes movable furnishings and the decorative layers that complete a room.

Think furniture, rugs, window treatments, artwork, pillows, and accessories. It also includes styling open shelves and arranging the pieces displayed inside glass cabinetry.

These are the details that bring personality, comfort, and a sense of completion to the foundation we’ve designed.

Where the Two Overlap in My Kitchen Packages

Even when your package focuses on hard finishes, I include some light furnishing and decor direction.

For example, I’ll select barstools that complement your kitchen. If you’d like a runner at the sink, I’ll help choose that, too. Those pieces have a direct relationship to how the kitchen looks and functions, so I consider them part of completing the design.

But styling a full wall of open shelves or filling glass cabinets with a thoughtfully arranged collection is a more involved process. It means selecting individual pieces, considering their scale and placement, and creating a balanced composition.

That’s when I would recommend my soft finishes add-on package.

It gives those finishing details the dedicated attention they deserve and makes the scope clear from the beginning.

Some Projects Are Entirely Soft Finishes

The apartment pictured in this post is a perfect example.

A family hired me to furnish their apartment from scratch. The existing cabinetry, flooring, countertops, and fixtures stayed in place. Our focus was on choosing furniture and decorative pieces that made the apartment feel like their home—and could move with them when they left.

I furnished the entire apartment without changing a single hard finish.

The beds, dining furniture, barstools, rugs, artwork, and accessories created a cohesive home within the existing space. It’s a reminder of how much you can accomplish through furnishings alone.

Which Services Does Your Project Need?

If you’re building or remodeling, your project will likely begin with hard finishes. If your home already has the foundation you want but needs furniture, warmth, or personality, soft finishes may be your focus. Many projects benefit from both.

You don’t need to arrive knowing the terminology. Tell me what you want to change, what you want to keep, and how you want your home to feel. I’ll help you identify the right scope.

Planning a remodel or ready to finish furnishing your home? Contact Kristine Krupa Interiors to discuss a design package tailored to your project.