Refinish Leather Furniture For Less Than $20

My husband got a phone call a few weeks ago from a woman in our neighborhood who wanted him to remove some furniture from her home as she was expected new furniture to be delivered.  The couches she was tossing were leather.  I have always been a fan of leather furniture, but have never been a fan of the price tag that comes with it.  When he plopped the couches on our driveway, I immediately told him I wanted to refinish it.  He gave me that you-are-oh-so-crazy look, and I began looking up information on the process.  What did I learn, you ask?  Ah….I learned that I could successfully refinish leather couches for less than $20, and that it would look just fine--even though I had never attempted such a project before.  Interested?  Well then stay tuned.  This one is going to be a good one.

The lady had owned a small dog, and that dog just loved jumping up on the couches.  Can you see all the scratch marks?  These things were not in the best shape--thus, my husband thought I was crazy.

After spending some time trying to track down some leather dye (I am a fan of Amazon, but I had some free time and wanted to get these bad boys done NOW) I finally got in touch with an associate at Joann's.  He had personally colored some leather couches with Rit Dye!  Did you hear that?  Rit Dye!  You can get some here.  I used two boxes of the powdered Cocoa Brown since my couches were already brown.  I paid less than $6 for the two packages.

First, I cleaned off all the furniture--a couch, a love seat, and two ottomans--with some rubbing alcohol.  I wanted to make sure the dye would take to the unworn parts of the leather.

 Next, I mixed my dye in a bucket (this will ruin a white sink!) according to the package directions.  I got an old rag, dipped it in the dye mix, held my breath, and started swirling the dye onto an ottoman in circular motions.  I had to work it into the cracks and crevices left by the puppy scratches, but it worked.  After I did one ottoman, I just knew this project was going to be a giant SCORE!

See how that dye just sinks right in?  It was amazing.

I went over each piece a few times.  Some of the parts that were originally rubbed off took the dye a little better than the regular leather parts, so I had to keep adding dye until I got a consistent look.

The dog had really done a number on this love seat.

 This was after one coat of the dye.  You must do more than one coat, or it will come out blotchy.  However, by the time I had finished one coat on the love seat, it was already ready for another.  I didn't have to wait several hours in between.  It was all just one continuous project.

I let the couches dry overnight.  When I used a white cloth to rub them the next morning, I still got a little dye coming off.  I ran back to Joann's and grabbed two bottles of this Leather Studio leather finisher.  You can check that out here.  I paid about $3 a bottle, and got two bottles.

I took a new rag, and applied the Leather Studio the same way I had applied the dye.  I put some on the rag, placed the rag on the couch, and spread it all around using circular motions. This stuff gave the couches a nice shine, without it being too shiny.  A few hours later I went back out with another white rag, and tested again.  NO dye came off!  I rubbed and rubbed in several places to make sure we would not get any dye on our clothes, and it was clean.  I had succeeded!  

This is a dark picture, but here is the love seat in my living room.  Good as new.  I am happy to report that the couches have been in our home for a few weeks, and so far they still look amazing!  Good luck with your project.  Happy homemaking!