Leather furniture is stunning in appearance, extremely durable, and extra comfortable and therefore, one of the most popular choices for furnishings all across the globe. However, it’s quite the deal that you could be ruining your leather furniture and don’t even realize the devastating effects.
Although exceptionally long-lasting, leather is a porous material, and the appearance of leather can be easily damaged by various factors. Yes, there are some common household practices performed by most homeowners unknowingly or neglected purposefully that can destroy the leather furniture’s appearance.
The best way to prevent these kinds of damage situations is to know whether or not you’re also making these mistakes. In this article by Custom Furniture Dubai, we’re going to describe 5 of the simplest and most common mistakes that speed up the deterioration of leather furniture.
The 5 Common Leather Furniture Mistakes Highlighted For Improved Longevity Purposes
Furniture appearance gets damaged due to a lot of reasons i.e. placement, material quality, durability, etc. Speaking of all these factors, one needs to be careful and precise when dealing with leather material for furniture upholstery.
1. Placing Leather Furniture Near Heat Sources & Sunlight
The furniture placement in the interior of a household is often based on practical application and visual appeal. But, if you place your leather upholstered furniture too close to the heating unit, then chances are that you’ll get the appearance of your furniture item damaged.
Heating units like vents, space heaters, and radiators can rob the upholstered furniture item surface of its natural moisture. This ultimately leads to drying out furniture surfaces that cause the appearance of cracks in the furniture.
On top of that, furniture items placed under direct sunlight exposure all the time take on the damaging effects of Sun rays. The damaging rays of the Sun create discolored patches or exposed area discoloration on the leather furniture. No need to say that when exposed over a certain period of time, the furniture’s leather upholstery will start to dry out, crack, and peel off of the surface.
Even though that’s least likely to happen for leather upholstered furniture items, no one can rule out this possibility. Thus, you should always move the leather upholstered furniture items away from walls with heating vents or direct sunlight exposure to prevent them from damage in the long run.
2. Protect Leather Upholstered Surfaces Against Ink Leaching
Reading a magazine or storybook while sitting on a leather upholstered sofa in the living room may be the dream way of spending leisure time for most of you. However, this ideal situation can pretty quickly turn exactly the opposite way just when you leave the open book or magazine upside down on your leather upholstered furniture.
The reason is the porous structure of leather material that makes it breathable and prone to damage by ink leaching into upholstery surfaces. These absorbed ink marks take the form of ineradicable stains thus, permanently damaging the furniture item’s appearance.
The only solution left behind for such damage scenarios is to reupholster the furniture for aesthetic appeal restoration. Hence, you should not leave open magazines, books, or readers upside down on leather upholstery for an extended period of time.
In this regard, the most noticeable effects are left behind when earthy crayons and reading visuals or graphics are imprinted on pages that are the point of concern.
3. Not Rotating Cushion Surfaces Regularly
Unlike fabric cushion covers, leather covers are most popular for holding their shapes for long-lasting periods and without any signs of wilting. Therefore, homeowners are somewhat negligent for not rotating the cushion surfaces on a regular basis.
Even though it’s not a major damage concern, wrinkles can appear on the leather upholstery surface that are almost impossible to fix. Therefore, you should turn and fluff your leather cushions preferably once a week to prevent the appearance of wrinkles.
4. Irregular & Untimely Dusting
Leather or any other furniture material demands to be dusted on a regular basis. Adding further, there is a need for deep cleaning the furniture as well. That’s because leather is porous and dirt, dust, and grime on the leather will get trapped within the furniture surface if not cleaned and maintained on a regular basis.
When homeowners neglect leather furniture maintenance practices, they’re actually adding to their financial problems without realizing it themselves. That’s because when the grime or dust marks become permanent, they’ll have to opt for deep-cleaning leather upholstery services and have to manage the additional cost out of their payroll.
Therefore, simple household dusting and cleaning practices are more than enough to avoid a hassle in the long run for leather upholstered furniture cleaning. For doing so, you can use a vacuum cleaner or soft, clean cloth to get your furniture a gleaming appearance. Not to mention that cleaning the furniture regularly will add to the longevity aspect as well.
5. Choose Furniture Cleaners Wisely
Leather furniture owners have to buy commercial furniture cleaners from time to time. And, that’s when you’ve to be cautious about making a suitable cleaner selection. Most commonly people opt for detergents, soapy or foamy solutions, oils, and polishes for cleaning leather upholstered furniture.
However, you should keep all these types of commercial cleaners at an arm’s length. And, the best thing is to determine the type of leather your furniture has been upholstered with i.e. look for the furniture manufacturer’s label.
This way you’ll have an idea of what to choose or not and you can ideally select the furniture cleaner. Most of the time, you’ll have to be specific in treating stains and stubborn spots on the leather surface. Otherwise, all that is needed for leather furniture cleaning is a clean cloth and lukewarm water.
Even for treating stains and marks, you can have DIY cleaning agents prepared at home that cost nothing (if you’ve vinegar). For this purpose, you need to mix a proportionate amount of water and vinegar to create a solution. Similarly, deep-cleaning the leather furnishings every six to eight months proves to be very effective for furniture maintenance and longevity.
To Put In A Nutshell
Just as leather furniture is attractive, desirable, and graceful in appearance, it requires you to avoid certain damage-causing circumstances. In this article, we’ve described 5 different situations that should necessarily be looked upon carefully for leather furniture maintenance. Follow all these guidelines to enjoy the ultimate benefits of improved longevity and delightful furniture appearances.