How to Clean Leather Furniture: Protecting Your Investment

Leather furniture is a very popular décor choice in many cases. Leather furniture can be very expensive and seem very difficult to maintain, cleaning the leather on your furniture doesn't have to be so hard to do. Leather furniture generally doesn't need a lot of involved care. A good dusting with a soft duster or vacuum attachment with bristles occasionally usually does the trick; unless of course something is spilled on it.

When something is spilled on leather furniture what to do to remove the stain can be confusing. Water, in some cases can be very bad for leather, which can make cleaning it very difficult as water and soap can be among the first things we reach for when cleaning up a spill. A lot soaps are too harsh for leathers and can be too drying on leather furniture. If it is necessary to use soap to clean stains from your leather furniture, use something very mild on coated leathers only.

When starting to remove a stain from leather furniture, gently blot the stain with a soft clean cloth. Alternatively, fill a thin cloth or stocking with salt and tie a knot at the top just before placing it on the stain. The salt draws excess liquid away from the leather, making it easier to begin removing the stain.

After drawing extra liquid away from the leather, start cleaning the stain with a cloth soaked in lukewarm water. Use the water soaked cloth by patting the stain gently beginning at the outside edge and working toward the center. If a stain is oil or grease based do not use water, simply blot the stain with a clean soft cloth or tissue. Water could only make the oily stain worse. If this doesn't remove an oil based stain, not to worry oil based stains usually dissipate over time. Oil based stains require either a bit of patience and ingenuity to hide the stain on the part of the owner while the stains gradually break down or extra money to have the stain professionally removed.

The only real ways to prevent your leather furniture from staining is to not allow food or drink near it or to have it treated with a chemical stain prevention solvent before being brought home or delivered. Treating furniture with such solvents can be pricey and add to the cost of the furniture. More realistically it is best to follow these tips. It is never a good idea to use furniture polishes, oils, or varnishes on leather furniture because they make the furniture sticky. Removing stains and dusting regularly is the most that needs to be done very often along with applying a leather cream up to twice a year. These tips should help leather furniture wear well and look virtually new for years to come.