A leather furniture set can be one of the most hard-wearing, easy to clean items in your home, but that doesn’t mean leaving it to its own devices – we all need a little TLC after all, so here’s a few steps towards easy TLC (tender leather care) for your leather furniture:
1. Cleaning leather furniture can be as easy as running the vacuum gently across the furniture each time you do the floors! As with all sofas, make sure that you get down the sides of a leather sofa to clean up any debris, dust or crumbs that may have slipped down there and check for coins of course!
2. If you have leather sectional furniture, make sure that you move the sections around at regular intervals, particularly if you feel that some parts or positions are more prone to frequent use than others. This way, you spread the wear and tear across all sections and allow the chance for all parts to be used and cleaned with the same regularity.
3. Equally important for sectional furniture or for separate leather furniture items is making sure that these are not too close to heat or light sources for too long. For example, keep a leather armchair at a sensible distance from a fireside and don’t place a fantastic leather chesterfield as a sunny window seat as either of these actions could cause premature cracking, stiffening or splitting of the leather.
4. Although part of leather’s appeal is that it’s very wipe-able by nature, do make sure that you mop up spills promptly, but by using a mopping or blotting action, rather than a wiping or rubbing action, otherwise you could be rubbing a stain into your leather furniture could still stain. If you feel that stains are likely – new baby, new puppy, old dog, old man etc, you could pay for extra leather furniture protection to be applied to your furniture, to help minimize the risk of staining.
5. Do remember that leather can be absorbent to dyes and some print so be vigilant to ensure that newspapers and magazines aren’t abandoned for long periods onto sofas and chairs – make sure they are put onto the coffee table or into a paper rack, out of the way! In the same way, be careful for the transfer of newspaper print to fingers and then arm rests – particularly if you have a light colored sofa! Similarly, avoid using pens or letting the kids use fiber-tipped colors when sitting on your leather finery!
6. Leather can scratch so be careful of what is placed onto leather surfaces, including studded pockets on denim jeans – a popular cause of unexplained scratches!
7. If your furniture is a popular leather / wood frame combination, you can still use household polish to care for your wood, but make sure that you spray it onto the cloth before using, rather than spraying directly onto the wood as otherwise you could leave an oily stain on the leather. If in doubt, just use a soft, cotton duster to remove dust or skin particles from the leather and the wood!
Remember that a good quality leather furniture set can more than cover its initial cost by lasting at least a couple of decades, so give it plenty of TLC and you will more than get your money’s worth!
