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If you're wondering how to keep your leather clean and well-maintained, this is the post for you. Cleaning leather is actually relatively simple and only requires a little time each week, but there's some key things to keep in mind.
Firstly, you should never use regular household cleaning products on a genuine leather sofa as some chemicals can stain, discolour and in some cases permanently damage the leather. Where possible, you should test your cleaning method on an offcut of the leather, or on an inconspicuous area of the sofa.
Weekly Cleaning
As leather is a living material, it is important to regularly remove any accumulated dust so that the sofa can adequately breathe and maintain proper moisture levels.
For any kind of leather sofa or armchair, you should lightly dust the back and the arms to tease away any dust, hair or dirt fragments that have accumulated each week.
Any deep buttoning will gather quite a lot of residue over a week of use, so you might want to use a vacuum cleaner on its lightest setting – this should be enough banish any lingering dust. If you only have a larger vacuum cleaner, you should ensure that the nozzle doesn’t touch the chesterfield sofa itself as strong air pressure can be damaging to the patina and texture of the leather.
Cleaning small marks and stains
As leather is a living material, it will absorb moisture and colour over time, this is why you need to act quickly if you spill something on the material.
The general rule is to remove all the moisture with a cloth, always rubbing in a circular motion, and then use a clean lukewarm damp cloth to lightly rub away at the stain if it’s still visible. You should then leave the stain to dry completely.
More stubborn stains can be removed with a toothbrush, again rubbing in a circular motion.
Conditioning your leather sofa
You should condition your leather sofa around once a year. Conditioner ensures that the leather has optimum moisture levels and a balanced chemical makeup. All of this ensures a good and long lasting piece of furniture that will stay in your family for generations to come.
Ideally you should use the conditioner recommended by the manufacturer. For older models where you’re unable to get in touch with who made it, you should use a high quality leather upholstery cleaner that is chemical-free.
What not to do
- Don't rub or scrape a stain without testing the technique on an offcut or an inconspicuous area.
- Don't use heat to dry spillages, they should be left to dry naturally.
- Don’t use any conventional cleaning products, as these can be damaging to the leather.
