How to Clean and Condition Your Leather Lounge in Less Than 1 Hour
Published on Nov 11, 2019
Who doesn’t love a leather lounge? While they can certainly look amazing in our homes, leather lounges require a bit of maintenance to preserve that luxurious leather lounge look.
We’ve found a great method that will clean and disinfect your grimy lounge, while doing a brilliant job of nourishing your leather. The best bit? It’s using all-natural products.
You're going to love what this great method does to your leather lounge - it will completely revitalise its look and feel.
What you'll need
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pure castile soap, available online or at many health stores
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white vinegar
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olive oil
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towels
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spray bottle
Note
Make sure you test the products on an inconspicuous area of your lounge first to ensure that the process won’t cause colour fade or flaking. You should also only ever use a towel or cloth to clean your leather lounge; tools like brushes are much too abrasive and can damage your furniture. For obvious reason, any towels that you use during this process should be clean ones.
What is castile soap?
This method uses Castile Soap, which some readers may not be familiar with. Here’s the rundown. While soap is usually derived from animal fats or synthetic materials, Castile Soap is generally created using natural vegetable oil. It can be purchased infused with essential oils, offering myriad benefits for your cleaning regime. It’s a fantastic natural cleaning product, which can also be part of your beauty routine. Here are some of Castile Soap’s many benefits.
How to Revive Your Leather Lounge in Less Than an Hour
Step 1 - Cleaning with castile soap and water
Mix up a 1:10 ratio of Castile Soap to warm water in a bowl. Dip an old (but clean) towel into the mixture and clean your lounge using a circular motion. Make sure you reach all areas of the lounge. This process will require a bit of elbow great and patience.
You may need to slightly increase the Castile Soap concentration in your mixture if you aren’t seeing results. Take care not to be too vigorous while cleaning the leather as you may start to take colour out of the lounge.
Once you’ve finished cleaning the lounge, wipe the whole lounge down with a clean, wet towel to remove the excess cleaning solution. You may need to pat it dry afterwards.
Step 2 - Remove castile soap residue with vinegar solution
After the cleaning process, you may find the lounge feels sticky or tacky to touch. This is due to the residue from the castile soap. Vinegar is a great way to resolve this, while also disinfecting your lounge.
Combine one part vinegar with 5 parts water in a spray bottle, and spray onto the lounge and wipe over with a clean cloth or towel, working one seat at a time. Rely on your sense of touch with this one; use your vinegar mixture on any areas where your hand sticks slightly when you pat the seats. Wait until dry and pat again – stickiness gone!
Step 3 - Condition leather with olive oil
It’s likely the process so far, while giving your lounge a great clean, has slightly dried out the leather. Olive oil is a fantastic way to nourish your leather but following the method below is very important to ensure that you get the right result.
You will only need ¼ cup of olive oil for a 3-seater lounge and it should be applied sparingly. Dip a small towel into the oil and squeeze any excess off before wiping the lounge down with the olive oil. Buff away the oil using a soft, clean cloth or towel, working in a circular motion.
This will take a little effort, but extra care will ensure that your lounge is in phenomenal condition.
You MUST remove all of the excess oil otherwise it will leave the lounge sticky and it may discolour the lounge or lead to rapid re-soiling. Once you’ve buffed the lounge, run your hand over the whole lounge, including crevices, looking for sticky spots. If you find a sticky spot, re-buff that area with a cloth.
Now you’re done! In under an hour, you’ve breathed fresh life into your tired leather lounge, making it look like new again.
Remember to follow the instructions closely to look after your leather appropriately.
Disclaimer
Whilst the Electrodry team consider this cleaning process to be very safe, it may contradict the warranty on your leather lounge. Please read and consider your leather lounge warranty before choosing the appropriate cleaning system and products for your leather lounge. The pigment in some leather lounges may deteriorate over time with exposure to body oils. If you notice the colour or top coat of your lounge starting to change colour or lift, we suggest you either stop cleaning immediately or, try using a dilution castile soap at 25:1 with water and clean very gently.
How to clean a leather lounge with ingrained dirt and oils
It is worth noting that the lounge we tested this method on a lounge that had about 12 months of soiling and had a few stains. If you have an older lounge suite with a build up of body oil or hair oil, you may need to engage the services of a professional leather lounge cleaner. A professional leather cleaner will have the right chemicals, equipment and expertise to tackle more complex leather lounge damage. This is the ideal option if you're concerned about making any damage to your lounge.