Leather Furniture Adds a Touch of Class

Owning leather furniture is a great way to add a touch of luxury and class to any living area.

Like any expensive investment, you need to know how to clean and care for the leather properly if you want it to maintain its character and beauty for years to come.

Your leather furniture is a comfortable place to read magazines or newspapers but avoid leaving them lying face down on the couch (especially if the leather is a light colour).

The newsprint can bleed onto the leather surface leaving you with an expensive and unwanted copy of that magazine you’re reading.

As a general rule never place your leather furniture near or next to heat sources like fires, heaters or heat pumps. 

Intense heat can scorch and shrink the leather, while prolonged exposure can dry the leather out.

Do not use cleaning solvents, furniture polish, oils, varnish, abrasive cleaners like Jiff, or strong detergent soaps as these can damage your leather. If unsure, always contact a leather professional. It’s better to be safe than sorry!

Don’t forget to turn and fluff your cushions from time to time. This will ensure that your cushions hold their shape for longer and prevent gravity from causing wrinkles in the leather when they droop over time.

If you have loose removable cushions you can also unzip them after a year or two, take out the inner cushion linings and reverse them or swap them around.

Remember that the closer your leather furniture is positioned to a sunny window the more likely that section of the lounge suite is going to show signs of fading. One way to avoid this, is to rotate your furniture if the room allows. Installing blinds or window tint is another good idea to prevent your leather fading or drying out.

Regular conditioning with a product that contains UV filters, like Fadegard leather conditioner is recommended.

European Leather Care 

Often receive enquiries about a tired quality leather lounge suite that was purchased 10 or 15 years ago and has been ravaged by our strong NZ sun and had the cats and the family jumping all over it.  

They can fully restore the suite to its former glory and bring it back to an optimum condition.

This would typically include cleaning, restoring the faded colours to original, invisibly repairing the cat damage, scratches, scuffs etc, repadding work, repairing the loose webbing and springs and reapplying the protective topcoats to the leather.

The finished results really need to be seen to be believed!  

Even if the leather is torn or heavily cracked, (typically on seats and arms) they can have new leather panels tailored in and match the colour perfectly’. 

This is a skill not available to typical upholstery companies and sets European Leather Care apart.

“We like to think we are recycling peoples lounge suites, giving them another 10-15 years of solid motoring. Why throw it away, if it’s a classic, or its comfortable and suits your lounge!  Rather than go and by a cheaper, imported suite from a dodgy overseas factory with questionable chemical and ecological background, why not give your favourite quality suite a makeover!” 

European Leather Care are leather repair specialists. Based in Petone, they are Wellington’s and New Zealand’s leading leather restoration experts. The core business is based around restoring leather furniture and lounge suites, which are received from all around the country. They also restore leather car interiors, and have a separate department setup to repair, hand clean and restore leather clothing, handbags and shoes.