Leather furniture is amazing. It looks superb and gathers a lot of attention, and it’s also very comfortable and enjoyable to use. Sadly, anyone who has owned a piece of leather furniture can tell you that no matter how hard you try to take care of it, the condition will degrade as it dries out and fades over time. Luckily, you don’t have to have it professionally restored for an exorbitant price. If you are willing to roll up your sleeves and do the work yourself, it really isn’t that hard to restore leather furniture yourself, and doing it will give you a great feeling of accomplishment. Follow these five steps and your old leather sofa can look as good as new.

  • The first thing you need to do is to get out your vacuum cleaner. Most vacuums have a hose attachment with a soft bristle brush that is meant for jobs like this. Thoroughly go over the entire piece of furniture, including under the cushions. You don’t want any debris on the couch when you start the restoration process.
  • The next step is to thoroughly clean the leather. You are going to want to use a specially formulated leather cleaner for this step. If you just any cleaner you have around the house, you run the risk of damaging the leather permanently. After you’ve gone over the couch with the cleaner, let it thoroughly dry before continuing.
  • After that, you will need to rub a leather restoration conditioner into the sofa. Again, make sure you buy a product that is designed for the task, or you will damage your furniture. Thoroughly rub the conditioner in following the instructions on the bottle, which should tell you how best to use their specific product.
  • If your sofa still isn’t where you want it after that, you can try using a special color matched leather coloring. If you are going this route, you will want a color that matches perfectly. You can send a swatch of the right color to a company that makes the dyes to ensure that it’s right. When you have the dye, follow the instructions provided to the letter.
  • If it’s the seams that have gone, you have a harder job ahead of you. While you can sew the seams back together yourself if you have the knowledge, you may want to consider having the job professionally done if you’ve never sewn before.

If you follow these five steps, you can bring the life back to your old couch. Make sure you are careful and follow all the instructions both here and on the products that you use to ensure you get results that you can be proud of.

Article originally published at Source by Bharath Ram Gangadharan