How to Properly Care for Your Leather Furniture: Maintenance Tips for Longevity

Why Buy Leather?

We brought the Beckham leather sectional to our floor in 2020. We put it at the front door so it would catch the eye of everyone that walked in and boy did that work! Five years later The Beckham is not only one of our best sellers, it’s the only piece we’ve never moved! to this day it is still the first thing you see when you walk in our door. So what made this set so popular? 

The neutral color and timeless style of this collection are certainly great selling points, but there are plenty of living room sets that fit that criteria. The Beckham provided something we were missing as a baby furniture store: a high quality, comfortable, real leather option at a price that doesn't require you to take out a second mortgage. 

Why do people love leather so much? Well, there are a few reasons. For one, it’s easier to clean than fabric. Many of us got caught up in the Modern Farmhouse of it all and quickly discovered that crisp, clean, white fabric sofas only stay that way if you never sit on them or touch them or look at them the wrong way. This is not very realistic for those of us that have kids, pets, or a little bit of a wine solution. Leather provides a durable, simple to clean option that is easy to plan your decor around. 

More than that, leather is an investment. Genuine leather furniture is not meant to be temporary, it’s made to last. And as long as it’s cared for properly, it will. The Beckham, for example, is made with a mixed hardwood and 7 ply plywood frame and the seat decks are reinforced with pirelli webbing, creating a sturdy base that can withstand years of use. The leather itself is top grain and most scratches can be buffed out. This type of quality and construction result in a piece of furniture that can last well over a decade… assuming that it is taken care of properly. 

Cleaning Your Leather Furniture

Caring for your leather is easier than most believe. Routine cleaning is as easy as wiping your sofa down with a damp (not soaking) rag. That’s it, that’s the whole process. That picks up any dust or debris that may have settled on or between your cushions without exposing your furniture to any harmful chemicals so that it looks like new for as long as possible. Large spills and stains require a little bit of extra care, but nothing too complicated. 

First - It’s important to know what type of leather you have to make sure you purchase a cleaner that will work for it. Your salesperson should be able to provide this information when you purchase. Some leathers already have a protective coating on them while others are unwaxed and unfinished, meaning they will respond differently to cleaners and conditioners. 

Second - Act fast. Keep your cleaner on hand so that when emergencies happen, you can get to it quickly and stains don’t have time to set in.

Third - READ THE DIRECTIONS. Some cleaners can be applied directly, others need to be diluted, all of them need to be tested on a small area before attacking a large stain. Not following directions could cause more damage and void out any warranty you may have.

Conditioning Your Leather Furniture

Conditioning your leather sofa is one of the best ways to keep it soft, prevent cracks and fading, and restore its original shine. Just like when choosing a cleaner, it’s important to select the right conditioner for your leather and always test it on a small, inconspicuous area before applying it to the whole sofa. Unlike leather cleaner, which should only be used when necessary, we recommend conditioning your leather every six months. 

For the best results, do this in the evening, as it can take several hours for the conditioner to fully soak in—this way, you won’t need to use the sofa during that time. It's normal for the leather to darken a bit after application, but don’t worry—it will fade as the conditioner absorbs. Once the process is complete, you’ll notice a significant improvement in the texture and vibrancy of your leather, with any blemishes noticeably reduced.

See our video below for a quick tutorial on how to condition your leather.

Leather Care Tips & Tricks

On top of using the right products and regularly conditioning your sofa, here are a few other tips to keep your leather looking fresh and new:

Keep out of direct sunlight

Direct sunlight and prolonged heat exposure can cause leather to fade and dry out. Remember, it’s just like our own skin. If possible, avoid placing your leather furniture directly by a window or heating vent.

Avoid spills if you can

Leather is porous, so any spills should be cleaned up immediately to prevent discoloration or warping. Prompt action can help maintain your leather's appearance.

Leather Protectant

If you're concerned about spills (no judgment, most of us are), consider investing in a leather protectant spray. This can help keep your leather clean and dry, as well as prevent discoloration from exposure to sweat and natural body oils.     

How long should leather last?

Like most things, the longevity of your leather depends on a few different factors. Higher quality and thicker cuts of leather will naturally last longer, as they are more durable and resilient against wear and tear. However, even with top-notch leather, proper care and maintenance are essential to preserving its appearance and extending its lifespan. Routine care not only prevents cracking, fading, and drying out, but it also ensures that your leather stays supple and continues to develop the rich patina that adds character over time. With the right attention, your leather furniture can continue to look and feel great for decades, becoming a timeless piece in your home that only improves with age.

Hey, Duval, Mike with JaxCo. Today we are talking about conditioning your leather. We have a Beckham leather sofa. This is our best-selling sofa. It also comes in a sectional. We absolutely love this stuff. This is a three-seater sofa. This has been in someone's home for a while. Long story short, we came back in possession of it due to a warranty claim, things like that.

So as you can see, this looks like it's had some wear and tear. This is, by the way, what it looks like after it's been in your house for a while. Nothing wrong with this piece. You'll notice it has a little bit more puddling than a brand new one would. It's supposed to do that. You also notice there's a lot more like different types of scratches and marks and things like that. Again, it's supposed to do that. Looks like this person had an animal or a cat or something like that that was getting up. Maybe some kind of rabid baby. I'm not really sure. But this particular leather sofa is made with unprotected, unconditioned leather. This needs to be conditioned on a regular basis if you have this series in your home, and if you're not sure, contact the store, we'll be happy to tell you what you have. But you should do this once or twice a year. It doesn't have to be done every weekend, that's not how this works. Just a very quasi-regular condition. It's going to make your leather last. This person, we talked to them, they have not conditioned a sofa. It was in their house for about two years. So this is going to be a great example for us to actually take and show you the before and after, is what we'll do at the end of this video. This is going to take your leather and it's going to make it look a little bit brighter. It's going to condition it. So think about like when you put lotion on your skin, that's exactly what we're doing with a specific type of compound that goes through this leather. It's meant to do that. And it's also going to take out, slightly going to take out some of this patina, that's the marks and stuff like that that you see on all the leather. It's going to take some of that out. Not all of it, not 100%, but it's going to kind of just dull that out and just make your sofa look a little bit newer. This helps take the longevity of the sofa to make it last a little bit longer. 

Now, preparing to condition this thing, the first thing that you want to do, you want to go through and you want to do a complete wipe down on it, I would first do a dry wipe that gets all of your crumbs and your dust and all the top stuff that's just sitting on there off of it. You can also take a very, very, very lightly damp rag and do a very light run through of it. Again, just get some of that surface dirt and dust and stuff like that off of it and then you're prepared to actually go through and do a conditioning.

 All right, so we're here with Casey, a professional repair tech, and Casey is going to show us how we are actually going to condition this. Now we've already taken the leather and put it into an inconspicuous place. You notice we're on the back of the sofa right here. So if something goes absolutely horribly wrong, we're going to have a sofa facing the wall. It doesn't really matter. Okay, we've had people in the past and they took a leather conditioner and it was supposed to be cut with water and they put it directly on their sofa. Guess what? That sofa is ruined. Make sure you read the instructions of your leather conditioner. Every conditioner is different. As you can see, this is what we're using, Weiman. This can be used on a number of different products. Again, please, please, please read the directions. But, we've taken this, we've cleaned it off, we've got a nice spot that's inconspicuous. So, Casey's going to take some of our leather conditioner, we're going to spray it onto the rag, and then we're going to put it onto the soap. Most of them are going to tell you the same thing, which is don't spray or apply any conditioner directly to the leather, put it on another surface, and then rub it in nice and gentle, just like the karate kid.

So Casey's done three of our back panels here, the other three are not done, so hopefully you can see on the video, these look like they're wet. It's supposed to do that. You're putting a liquid onto this leather and it's going to be soaked into your leather. It's going to help to fill in some of those cracks again condition it just like you would moisturize your skin That's exactly what we're doing So here's before and we're going to put a few different coats on stay tuned for the final product

Thank you.