A handsome leather couch is luxurious—and if you want to make sure it stays that way, you have to know how to clean your leather sofa. For a regular weekly or biweekly cleaning, use a vacuum cleaner or microfiber cloths to remove dust. But even the most careful among us might look at a white or cream leather sofa and worry, or fuss over a spilled drink. As long as you clean and care for leather properly, the material will only improve with age. You know, like a fine wine. Check out these 7 simple steps on how to clean leather sofas.
A vacuum with a crevice tool is helpful to get anything from the edges your fingers couldn’t reach
Here's our step-by-step guide to having a pristine leather sofa. This approach works best when you have a stain that needs lifting or as a deep clean every 3 months, or twice a year.
These are the cleaning supplies you’ll need to tidy up your leather surfaces:
To start with, you should physically clean the surface of your leather couch. This will avoid it from being inadvertently rubbed into the sofa when you’re wiping it down with the cleaning solution.
A good option here is to use the soft brush attachment on the vacuum cleaner to avoid scratches. Switch over to the crevice tool to get anything from the edges your fingers couldn’t reach, as well as clean the seams.
Choosing the right soap or cleaner for your leather sofa can be summed up in one simple rule: the gentler, the better. Here are a few options that work well, and most are readily available in your bathroom or pantry!
For a natural approach, a simple dilution of 50:50 white vinegar and water can do the trick. This is an effective, yet gentle stain remover for most types of upholstery and leather is no exception.
Test the cleaning solution on a small section first
Whichever option you choose, try using it on a small section of the sofa first – preferably somewhere that isn’t highly visible. Apply a small amount, and let it dry out to ensure that it looks the way you want it to and there isn’t discolouration.
Use soft cloth to avoid any scratch on the surface of your leather sofa
We are now ready to begin! You’ll need two soft microfiber cloths, one for cleaning the sofa and one for drying it. First, dip one cloth into the cleaning liquid and wring it out - it should be damp rather than dripping wet. If you are using bar soap, dampen the cloth and sweep it across the soap's surface.
Now, working from top to bottom, rub the cloth gently but firmly along the surface, taking care to go into the corners. Continue to rinse the cloth in the cleaning solution as needed. Once you have finished the cleaning, use the other cloth to gently buff the sofa dry for a beautiful shine. There’s no need to rinse the solution out, but it’s crucial to thoroughly dry the sofa to ensure there’s no risk of mildew or mould.
“Be sure to carefully dry the leather with another clean, dry cloth to avoid any mildew,” Pourny notes. For best results, leave the spot alone overnight.
Top tip: An air purifier is a good option to remove any excess odours in the room.
Re-moisturize the material by applying the leather cream with a clean cloth. Let it sink in, then buff to a shine if you’d like.
Hope these 7 steps will help you much with your furniture care. If you have any thoughts to share with us about how to clean a leather sofa, just let us know!
It’s always best for stains to be dealt with right away – blot up spilled water, food, oil or ink as soon as you can before it has time to set. Rubbing alcohol can be carefully used to lift ink stains, and baking soda works well on grease marks.
Last but not least, when in doubt, consult an expert! They’re the best people to advise you on cleaning and preserving your leather sofa without doing more damage.
