Leather Restoration - Reconditioning Worn, Cracked And Ripped Leather Lounge Suite
If you think your leather lounge suite is past its used-by-date ... then have a look at what I did with this worn-out lounge suite.
A lady called and asked if it was possible to recondition a leather suite, with deep cracks, holes in some parts and all of the original colour completely worn off. Well, I asked her to send me some photos so I could take a look and here's what she sent me.
As you can see, the leather is certainly looked tatty and somewhat embarrassing for anyone to have it sitting in their lounge.
Here's the chair looking very worn. You can barely see the original colour in the pleats and around the buttons.
The seat cushions had deep cracks, and in places, these cracks had completely opened up exposing the stuffing. Even the arms and inside back sections were deeply cracked.
Here's the couch. As you can clearly see, the seat cushions have some serious cracking and in parts, you can see the stuffing showing through the leather ... same with the arm. Also, the inside back was showing deep cracking as well.
Here's another view of the couch showing the extent of the damage.
So, what did I do?
Well, I called my upholsterer and asked what he thought about the possibility of replacing the leather on all of the seat cushions, the arms and inside backs ... essentially, all the traffic areas.
After all, if the couch and chair needed to be disassembled, it makes sense to replace ALL the damaged leather rather than just the worst panels.
To cut a long story short, my client agreed to my plan and we got to work.
I ordered in some new leather, the upholsterer stripped off the old leather, replaced the seat cushions with new foam, sewed in the new leather then resembled the chair and couch.
Then I rolled up my sleeves and refinished all of the leather back to its original colour. This particular suite was originally 2-tone or mottled so achieve the exact effect was my goal.
Do you recognise the couch? It makes such a big difference having the damaged leather replaced with new leather.
Once my work was completed, the upholsterer returned and refitted new antique studs around the edges of the arms and seat base.
Another view of the couch.
... the finished chair. What do you think?
When the work was completed, it really did look stunning!
Here's video telling the story ...
Often I refinish cracked leather and it certainly looks good but when the cracked leather is replaced, the end result is so much better when working with a good base.
What was my clients reaction?
Well, I'm glad you asked! When my client came to collect her suite, she was completely dumb-founded! Her silence initially made me think she was having doubts, but apparently she was lost for words!
"That exactly how it looked when I first bought it", she said. "Thank you so much!"
When you put your heart and soul into something like this, is makes it all worth while when people appreciate what you do ... don't you reckon?