When you get a leather sofa or another piece of leather furniture, it’s really important to make sure you’re investing in leather cleaner and leather conditioner to maintain the leather upholstery. Leather is very temperamental as a material, so making sure you take care of your leather furniture can really help make it last.
Cleaning leather furniture
Just as with any furniture or any surface in your living room, you definitely need to clean leather sofas. You should do so on a regular basis in order to maintain the leather upholstery and keep it looking brand new. The more that you maintain your leather furniture, the longer it will last.
What you’ll need:
In order to properly clean your leather sofa, you will need:
- Saddle soap
- Water
- Soft cloth (a microfiber cloth)
- Cotton swabs
How to clean leather furniture
You will need to follow the following instructions in order to properly clean your leather upholstery.
- Remove Debris: using a lint-free cloth, you should remove any debris from your leather. You can also use a soft brush or soft brush attachment to remove dust and debris from the couch. Make sure to get into the seams and gaps between the cushions using cotton swabs.
- Soap and Water: most marks on a leather couch can be cleaned away using a clean damp cloth in soapy water. Saddle soaps are ideal as they are specifically designed to keep leather furniture clean.
- Dry the Leather Furniture: you should always make sure that you completely dry the leather couch. You can do this using a dry cloth.
How often should you clean a leather sofa?
Depending on how often you use your sofa and what you use it for, you may find you need to clean it more or less regularly. Generally speaking, however, you should clean your leather couch every two to four weeks.
Things to avoid when cleaning your Leather Sofa
There are a number of suggestions that you might see online that you should avoid when it comes to maintaining and cleaning a leather couch. Some of the things to be sure to avoid are:
- too much water
- anything too wet
- anything too liquidy
- mink oil
- ammonia
- bleach
- sanitizing wipes
Conditioning Leather Furniture
Cleaning isn’t all you have to do when you have a leather couch. After you’ve cleaned leather furniture, and in between the cleanings, you should be sure to use leather conditioner too.
What you’ll need:
- high-quality leather conditioner
- lint-free soft cloth or microfiber cloth
- dry cloth
How to condition leather furniture
Only start conditioning your leather upholstery after your leather cleaner (water and soap) has dried. You must have a dry leather couch before you start to condition the material.
You should use the leather conditioner sparingly and always do a spot test first. Once you’re sure the leather conditioner will not damage the fabric upholstery, you can start to condition your leather couch. Apply the leather conditioner to the leather upholstery and buff it into the material in circular motions using a clean cloth. Once it’s been absorbed by the leather furniture, you can then use a clean and dry cloth to remove any excess liquid or cream from the sofa.
Other tips for maintaining Leather Furniture
Cleaning and conditioning your leather upholstery is one thing, but you need to also make sure you’re doing other things to maintain your leather couch. There are a few things that you can do to make sure that you get the most life out of your leather couch.
Keep your leather away from direct sunlight
Leather furniture relies on the moisture in the material in order to remain comfortable and flexible. If you place leather upholstery in the sunlight (under a window for example) you will find that the direct sunlight will dry the material out. Dry leather is more prone to cracking and breaking, which can age your sofa hugely.
If you do have to put your leather in the sunlight, make sure you’re using a good leather conditioner and leather protector, as these will make a huge difference with most leather furniture.
Move your leather sofa away from the radiator
Just as with direct sunlight, placing your leather sofa (or any leather, a leather jacket and leather shoes will be just the same) by the radiators in your home will cause them to dry out much quicker. Even protected leather will dry out when subjected to too much heat.
Keep pets off of the leather furniture
As much as having your cat or dog on your couch is adorable, pets have large claws that can often tear into leather furniture. No amount of leather protector or cleaning can prevent or fix this, so it is important to make sure you keep your pets off of the leather if you want it to last well.
Removing stains from Leather Furniture
While saddle soap and water will get rid of most marks on leather, sometimes other marks might appear that you have to fight a little harder to remove. In those situations, try these:
Ink stains
To remove an ink stain you may have to hire a professional cleaner to do a deep clean on your leather. You can try rubbing alcohol or isopropyl alcohol however these could cause different stains.
Grease and oil stains
You can often tackle grease and oil stains on leather furniture by sprinkling cornstarch or talcum powder and letting it sit overnight. Sometimes dish soap may also work, but you should always spot-check first for the sake of your sofa.
Wine stains
Sometimes we spill our drinks, and wine is one of the most notoriously difficult drinks to get out of things. The best way to remove wine stains from leather is to act first. Dab away any excess wine and then use water and mild soap to dab away the soaked-in wine.
If it’s too late to act fast, you can try to remove wine stains by using a make-up remover or a water-based cleaner. Some people also reckon that baking soda and vinegar may help – whatever you try, make sure you do a spot test. Otherwise, you risk damaging your leather.
