How to Ruin Your Leather Furniture in 3 Easy Steps

If you want to extend the life of your leather furniture you’ll need to give it a little extra tender love and care. Leather naturally loses moisture and softness over time, but there are also other things you could be doing to damage your leather furniture and speed up the process. Here are some ways you could be ruining your leather furniture without even knowing.

Step 1: Exposing Your Furniture to a lot of Sunlight

Leaving leather furniture in areas with direct sunlight isn’t the greatest idea. Why? Because sunlight can fade your gorgeous leather furniture, changing the color to something completely different (and not so pretty). Remember all of those months you spent agonizing over the perfect shade of burgundy for your brand new leather couch? Well, all of that agonizing will have been over nothing if your beautiful leather couch is left in the sunlight. And it won’t take long for your couch to go from a rich burgundy to an ugly pink. But that’s not all. Sunlight can also crack and dry out your leather furniture too. To avoid all of this unnecessary damage, move your leather furniture out of direct sunlight.

Step 2: Leaving Stains to Set

We’ve all been there. You drop a little bit of salsa or dip on the couch and think, “It’s ok, I’ll clean it up later.” And then later comes and you still haven’t cleaned up the stain and worse, it’s set into your favorite leather chair. Now what? You’re stuck with an unsightly stain that is going to be even tougher to remove now that it has set into the leather. Don’t let this happen. Treat stains the minute they happen. Use a remover recommended by your furniture’s manufacturer to make sure it’s safe to use on your sofa or chair. Using some products on your leather furniture can lead to the next step . . .

Step 3: Using Harsh Soaps and Detergents

Like we mentioned before, leather furniture needs a little extra TLC. You have to be gentle when cleaning your leather couch or chair. It’s easy to go just pop over to the grocery store and buy any leather surface cleaner, but you might be doing more harm than good. Unfortunately, the natural oil in leather does not replenish itself. If you use harsh soaps or detergents on your leather furniture you could dry out the leather, causing it to crack. Skip this mistake and check with your furniture manufacturer to find the best cleaning solution for your leather furniture.

You can’t clean stains on leather furniture the same way you would with cloth furniture. You have to be mindful of the products you use and where your leather furniture is placed in your home if you want to extend the life of your favorite sofa or chair. Avoid these mistakes and your leather furniture will continue to look beautiful and last you for years to come. Do you still have questions about upholstery or leather cleaning? Give us a call at 317-876-9944 or visit our website today!

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