Leather furniture is the apex of comfort and luxury. Cool, smooth, and stylish, it completes the look of any room while also feeling comfortable and welcoming. But, like any furniture, it will accumulate dirt and scuffs over time. Without specific care and attention, any piece of leather furniture will wear out far sooner than it should.
Every kind of leather furniture is different and requires different cleaning and care. Thought leather textiles look similar, they run a wide range of porousness, color, texture, and stiffness. Because of each one’s unique needs, it’s best to hire a professional cleaner to help make it last and look its best.
Cleaning and overcleaning
Trying to clean your own furniture can present a problem—how clean is clean enough, and how much is too much? Using too much product to help clean, even water, can end up damaging your furniture. Moisture moves through the semiporous membrane of the leather and can end up leading to cracks, bleaching, drying, and other kinds of damage.
This is especially true of stains in leather furniture. Getting a stubborn stain out usually means a deep cleaning product, scrubbing, or soaking. That can really damage leather fabrics! You may wind up with the surface of your furniture looking worse than before.
Instead, a professional cleaning job can gently clean the surface and remove stains without leading to more damage. They can help determine what the best cleaner is for different types of leather fabrics.
Moisturizing
Traditionally, leather was tanned from animal hides. Genuine leather today still is. Synthetic leather may be entirely plastic-based or a combination of different materials. One thing it generally has in common, though, is the need for moisturization.
Like skin, leather can dry out and crack over time. This is especially true if you live in an area with low natural humidity or high humidity fluctuations, which can take their toll on leather surfaces. But unlike skin, you can’t tackle the problem with lotion. Even general oils won’t work, and may dull the finish of your furniture and degrade its look over time. On top of that, how much is enough? It could be easy to apply too much and have an oily, greasy surface, or to not apply enough and make no difference.
A professional cleaning service can help determine what the best moisturizing product is for your furniture, depending on your environment and the material. Professional application can also help ensure that you don’t over- or under-apply.
Life extension
A quality leather couch will cost in the neighborhood of a few thousand dollars, with exclusive and high-end brands costing even more. The tradeoff is that with adequate care and moderate use, they can last decades.
With proper care, the surface can outlast the underlying structure! Adequate care can help extend how comfortable your furniture is and how good it looks. Leather furniture is often a centerpiece in a home, and unfortunately, even if it’s comfortable, it’s not fun to have to move a leather piece to hide unsightly stains and bleaching. In addition to general care, like keeping leather away from direct sunlight sources, regular professional cleaning can contribute to making its look last.
Your furniture is an investment, and in the long run, professional care is part of that investment. The cost to maintain it is smaller than replacing it more frequently, too!
