How to Clean Leather Furniture
Leather furniture really isn’t that hard to care for, due to its natural durability. If you take care of it, it will probably last longer than any other furniture you will ever buy. So there are a few basic principles to follow when you are caring for leather furniture, and if you follow them, you should be in good shape.
- Condition regularly with leather conditioner. I would recommend at least once every six months, so you don’t need to be too excessive with it, just regular. Consistency is more important than anything. It is sort of like brushing your teeth. It is better to brush them twice a day than brush them really hard for 30 minutes once a week. Just give it a nice refreshing twice a year and it should be fine.
- For more day to day, week to week upkeep, wipe down the leather with a slightly damp cloth. And I mean just slightly damp, don’t go soaking it. This is just to get the dust and regular stuff off. Be gentle to avoid scratching it if there is anything abrasive. If you want to get serious about it, you can vacuum the surface to get rid of these particle, but it isn’t absolutely necessary.
- It is best to keep staining liquids away from your leather furniture, but if you do spill something on it, get a dry cloth as blot it gently and immediately. I know those two adjectives are tough to do together, but stains set into the grain of leather very quickly, and wiping them makes them set in faster, so you need to be as fast as possible, while still being very gentle. That is why it is best to avoid the situation altogether. This is one benefit to buying a black or brown leather sofa, since stains don’t show up as much or at all.
- If a stain does get set in, you can use a damp cloth to blot it and get it just a little wet, and then blot it with a dry cloth. It probably won’t get the stain completely out, but it may lighten it. At that point you can either live with the stain or see if there is professional help nearby who can assist you.
It shouldn’t happen unless you are being really aggressive with your furniture, or have a lot of sharp objects flying around it, but if there does happen to be a rip or tear in your furniture, you can either fix it yourself with a leather repair kit. For best results, have a professional fix it.
