DIY leather furniture repair

Do-it-yourself leather furniture repair is a pretty interesting topic to talk about. Such knowledge will be useful not only to owners of a leather sofa, but also to those who have leather seats in a car. It just so happened that leather products, whether it be a jacket, boots, an armchair or a leather interior in your favorite car, are a sign of status, luxury. No matter how animal defenders fought against these fashion trends, they are still relevant. It is unlikely that there will be a lot of people who would not dream of upholstered furniture covered in leather. If you are a happy owner of this “dream”, then sooner or later you will be concerned about the question of how to restore this skin on a sofa, armchair, stool and other items.

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A bit about the material

Genuine leather is a more practical material than fabric. It is strong, elastic, not easily soiled, pleasant to the body, has a long service life. But, like everything in this world, it is not eternal. Even if you were careful, sooner or later the skin will take on a shabby and dull appearance, especially on the armrests.

Quite often, owners of leather furniture are faced with small scratches, cuts, burnt holes and other defects on the surface of the skin. To drag a sofa or chair, of course, is the ideal solution, but still it’s worth trying to save the budget by making minor repairs with your own hands or with the help of specialists.

Next, you will find information on how to restore artificial leather on the couch and natural, what to do to ensure that the surface of your favorite furniture regains its presentable appearance.

So, how can leather furniture be restored to its original beauty?

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Shabby appearance, small cracks, spots

How to make restoration of leather furniture? Can I restore it myself? If, over time, leather upholstery sweeps over, it can be easily sewn up or glued. First of all, the furniture surface must be thoroughly cleaned of dirt and stains. They give not a well-groomed look.

Procedure:

1. Before restoration, be sure to first wipe the furniture surface with soap and water and, after drying, with medical alcohol (70%). It will remove not only dirt, but also grease from the surface.

Important! Stains from grease, food, stationery and other things need to be wiped off immediately. If you are not dealing with smooth skin, but with suede and nubuck, instead of alcohol, you need to use white wine vinegar. Although there are special cleaners for the skin, they are not only more expensive, but also less effective, as practice shows.

2. If your sofa has only scuffs, and there are no holes, cuts or scratches, then the surface can be restored in an updated form just by painting. Skin paint will help mask small cracks and scratches, even out color. Now on sale a fairly large assortment of dyes for the skin. They can be in jars or in the form of a spray:
   • Spray paint faster and more convenient. You only need to choose the right tone of the substance. If there is no perfect match, it is better to take a little darker.

Important! Spray paint in a spray should not be random, but in smooth zigzag movements.

1. • If you take in jars, you have the opportunity to mix shades to achieve the desired result.

Important! Remember that twice you will not be able to mix the same color.Therefore, calculate the surface area to be painted and dilute the desired amount of paint according to the instructions.

1. • Experts recommend using a foam sponge for applying paint from a can.

Important! The color will best go down and shade if this sponge is slightly moistened with water. You can also use an airbrush or spray gun for painting.

1. • If the color in the bottle suits you, and you take several of these containers, make sure that they are all from the same batch so that the shade does not differ.
   • Each type of skin has its own type of paint: for smooth, patent, suede and nubuck.

Important! Remember to protect yourself and the surfaces adjacent to the sofa from paint before painting. It is also advisable to wear a respirator.

3. After staining, allow the furniture surfaces to dry thoroughly. If necessary, you can apply a second layer or top coat, which gives gloss to the skin.

Important! Periodically, you need to wipe the skin with special care formulations. This, as in the advertisement, “prolongs the youthfulness of your skin”, and also does not allow dirt to penetrate deep into the upholstery surface.

Do-it-yourself repair of a leather sofa in case of small defects in the form of small cracks, stains or scuffs can be considered completed.

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Scratch

Scratches or clings are damages when only the upper layer of skin is touched, and it is separated by a narrow stripe from the lower layer. This strip just needs to be glued into place:

• When buying leather furniture, a special repair kit is usually attached, where, in addition to patches and paint, glue is also included. If you do not have this repair kit, then you need to purchase glue for the skin.
• Some suggest using super glue. It is suitable for genuine leather, although after it you will need to sand the surface of the scratch.

Important! When using superglue, keep in mind that the part of the skin that came into contact with the superglue will become hard, and if you do not wipe the glue from the front surface in time, it will also be covered with white coating.

Restoration algorithm:

1. To remove the clue, you need to degrease the damaged area with medical alcohol and wait a while until the surface becomes dry.
2. Now, with a toothpick or a very thin brush, apply glue to the back of the hook and gently apply it to the right place, aligning with your finger in the direction from the base to the end of the hook.
3. After all manipulations with the glue, be sure to remove any glue from the surface with a paper towel.
4. Do not use the sofa until the glue has completely dried.

Important! The time it takes to dry the composition, see the label. It is also not advisable to use a hairdryer to speed up the drying of the glue. Let it dry at room temperature.

Usually this manipulation is enough to make the scratch invisible.

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Cuts

With cuts, things are not as simple as with scratches, although it is also possible to fix the situation. All skin layers are affected here, right down to the foam. In this case, not only glue is useful, but also a patch.

Important! The patch will be applied from the inside, so its color does not really matter. It can be either a piece of leather or any other dense elastic material.

Algorithm of actions:

1. You need to carefully use tweezers and stacks (nail files or other improvised means) to tuck a patch under the cut. The patch should be larger than the defect.
2. If fibers stick out around the edges of the cut, carefully cut them.
3. After this, use a toothpick to apply a uniform layer of glue on the inner surface of the skin around the incision and gently press the skin to the patch, clearly aligning the edges.

Important! In order not to press down for a long time, put the load on this place for an hour.

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Breaks, holes

How to seal a hole in a leather sofa? If the furniture has suffered more severely - a cigarette hole has been burned, a hole with uneven edges and the like has broken, the best option for restoration would be repair using the so-called “liquid skin”.

Important! Usually this substance is included in the repair kit for leather furniture. But if you don’t have one, you can buy “liquid skin”.

What is liquid skin?

"Liquid skin" is an innovative polymer mixture based on alcohol and water, also containing rubber resin and dye. Most often, this substance is sold in small jars (up to 20 ml). Manufacturers produce a means of different colors individually (Saphir - 40 shades), or sets of 7 colors.

Important! In order to get the right shade, the colors will have to be mixed.

Initially, “liquid skin” is a creamy mass that must be applied with a stack or a small spatula. After drying, this substance turns into a durable elastic film, which in its characteristics is similar to natural skin. It is elastic, has water-repellent properties, does not form creases.

Important! With this tool, you can repair not only furniture and seats in the passenger compartment, but also wallets, bags, shoes, jackets, gloves and other leather products.

Best of all, “liquid skin” is combined with genuine leather, although it can also be used to repair a sofa made of leatherette with your own hands.

Important! Dermatine, eco-leather and other types of leatherette are glued with “liquid skin”, but the adhesion will not be so reliable.

This patch will hold well and serve for a long time. The patch may delaminate and after some time fall away, that is, it will have to be updated several times. Although, if this is a small area, and it is not subject to friction and heavy loads, the patch will last long enough.

Algorithm for restoration of a sofa cover using liquid skin:

• To get started, pick the perfect tone. Buy ready-made or mix shades until you get the right color.
• If the hole is deep, with damage to the internal filler (burned with a cigarette butt, for example), then first you need to fill the missing part with a piece of foam rubber in size.
• Then, if the hole is not tiny, apply glue to the inside of the skin and fasten a piece of gauze or bandage (slightly larger than the hole). It will play the role of reinforcement for the “liquid skin” layer.
• Then gently apply a thin layer of “liquid skin” itself with a small spatula or stack. Fill the hole and smooth, comparing the edges with the main surface.
• If the surface is textured, you need to apply the product with a sponge or brush so that the patch acquires a relief and after repair does not particularly stand out against the general background.
• If the defect is large, do not apply “liquid skin” immediately with a thick layer. It is better to apply several thin layers, allowing everyone to dry thoroughly.

Important! When applying this product, keep in mind that after drying it may lighten or darken a little. Therefore, before applying, try in an inconspicuous place and wait for it to dry.

• If something didn’t suit you when applying such a liquid patch (it turned out crookedly, the color is not that and so on), you can wipe the composition with a wet sponge before it grasps.
• If the patch is large and still stands out, it catches your eye, the only way out is to paint the entire sofa. How to do it right - read above.

As you can see, the restoration of leather furniture with your own hands is not as complicated as it might seem at first.

How to repair leatherette on the couch?

A patch of “liquid skin” on a natural material will hold perfectly and will last a long time. But, as we wrote earlier, it’s ideal to repair leatherette on the couch at home, as there will be no high-quality coupling. It is possible to repair holes on “artificial skin” with “liquid skin”, but only if they are small and are not in places with a constant load.

Important! If the hole on the leatherette is large and this area is constantly subjected to friction or stretching, it will be more practical to replace the upholstery than to grease the defect with “liquid skin” and tint every month.

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Sofa banner

If you want to radically renew your sofa or chair due to worn-out upholstery or a mismatch of its shade with the color scheme of the room, then the best way out is to replace the upholstery. Ideally, this business should be entrusted to professionals. If you have the right skills and want to do it yourself, you can try.

To do this, you must have:

• construction stapler;
• a good sewing machine that can scribble on thick fabric;
• strong reinforced threads;
• tailor scissors.

Procedure:

• To begin, disassemble the sofa and carefully remove the old upholstery, while paying attention to where and how it was attached, in which place there were folds and other details. Do not throw it away.
• Inspect the inside of the sofa.
• Replace foam rubber if in some places it has lost its shape or has become loose.
• If the inside is ok, proceed to the next step. Use the old upholstery as a pattern for the pattern. Attach details from the old coating to the new material, circle and cut, not forgetting to add allowances.

Important! For stitches, use strong reinforced thread to match the new upholstery. Simple threads will not work - they will not withstand the load.

• After you have cut out the details and laid the necessary seams, proceed to the most important thing - fasten the new upholstery. Use a stapler for this.
• The material must be tensioned evenly, make neat folds in the corners, but do not overdo the tension so that the upholstery does not burst later.

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Stock footage

As you can see, close up a hole on a leather sofa You can do it yourself, without the help of any wise means. Regarding artificial materials, the situation is somewhat more complicated, however, it is always possible and worth trying. To keep the updated sofa longer, like a new one, do not forget to remove dirt in time and regularly use furniture care products.