Leather Restoration

Two Chesterfield tufted leather couches have held court in the family room for at least fifteen years. As with all skins, wrinkles have ruined the surface of the couch so leather restoration services were in order. Quality Leather Restoration was called in to bring the leather back to it's original color and luster, all for under $700. A new high quality leather sofa costs from $4800 on up. The leather face lift is taking place as I write.

The quality of leather furniture being built and sold has diminished over the past twenty years, providing a thinner leather with a shorter life span. The two burgundy Chesterfield leather couches were pricey back in 1985 when they were purchased, but now that is very good news. The couches are made with top grain leather that is thicker than today's leather products. Top grain leather is prized because it offers the most strength, durability and suppleness and can be cleaned, buffed and restored to the original condition. Split leather, on the other hand, makes up most of the leather products on sale today and is the layer that remains when top grain is removed from the hide. Split leather has none of the textural character of top grain leather, but can be embossed with a texture that simulates top grain. This layer of hide is still appropriate for furniture, but is not as strong as top grain leather.

Today the leather sofa is getting a face lift and is being cleaned, buffed, sewn and refurbished back to it's new condition. This is in-home service uses all natural eco-friendly products and is odorless. Soon the family room will regain its "new" glow and the leather furniture will be good for another twenty years.

Photo attribution: somewhatfortyplus

Leather Doctor

Two burgundy Chesterfield leather sofas hold court forming an "L" in the family room of my home. Purchased fifteen years ago, at least, the sofas have managed to age well, the leather was good quality to begin with, and occasional leather therapy has brought them back to life. The leather doctor is coming today, however.

The sofas have leather covered buttons on the seat and back, and on one of the sofas three buttons have broken lose and tried to run away. The leather doctor will re-attach the buttons and make the sofas look as good as new, for two sofas seventeen years old. The leather doctor is coming after 4:30 today, and if he is like the Comcast guy or the AT & T guy, this could take a while. For $85 the leather doctor will reattach the buttons and determine if any leather treatments should be applied to the sofas. I'm sure he will suggest something between $200 and $300, what ever that is -- too much for sofas that are twenty years old. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: The prognosis for the two leather couches is good, as long as they are taken care of immediately. For $85 the leather doctor will re-attach three buttons, after making one new button. For another $250 the leather doctor will repair a section of the sleeper leather couch that had a section of creased areas that will be glued down, sanded, condtioned and then the color will be added to make it look as good as new. The second couch will have the same treatment after the first of the year, for another $700. The blue wingback chair will have the right arm repaired for $200. This is the chair that a three year old child of mine bit a hole in twenty-one years ago when he was "teething." This will cost $200 and the chair will look as good as new. The leather doctor was surprised at the quality of the leather furniture, and the excellent condition it was in for being so old. It all looks really good, but then my husband and children knew they had to treat the furniture well if they wanted to live. They are all alive.