Dyeing My Leather Club Chairs

Years ago we bought some beautiful leather club chairs and ottomans.  We love them, they are so comfortable and we paid a lot of money for them because we wanted them to last.  We have had them a little over 8 years.  The dogs can scratch them, the kids can do what ever they want because leather is very forgiving.  They are Italian leather and have a natural finish.  Every now and then I get out saddle leather oil and rub them down to take away all of the blemishes.  Here is a picture of how they looked after 8 years, the color is Mahogany.

 So during the renovations I wanted to dye them but my hubby said no let a professional do it.  I had worked with leather in high school and understood some things about dyeing it but I have to admit that I was a little scared that they would come out uneven.  So I did a lot of research online and learned how to do it but was still scared.  

I contacted a company that did leather dyeing gave them a call, they were reasonable, for both the chairs and ottomans only $600.   So we hired them, when they arrived they were beautiful!

Here’s the bad news!  Within 24 hours the dye that they used started to peel off! 

I cancelled the check!  When I contacted them on Monday, they were so upset that this had happened.  They had used a vegetable dye (water based dye) on top of my oil dyed chairs.  As you know oil and water don’t mix!  So they took the chairs back and removed all of the dye.  They were very awesome and I do recommend them for boat, car and even some furniture.  But they only use water based dye.

So I ordered Fiebing’s oil dye, deglazer & leather balm from Springfield Leather Company.  I spent about $200 and still have product left.

 

HOW TO DYE LEATHER

1.  Deglaze

Very important!  This step removes the old finish and grime.  It opens the leather to accept the dye. 

2.  Dye

Depending on the type of leather furniture you have will determine the type of dye to use.  I used oil dye.  You have to put it on evenly.

3.  Finish

I used leather balm, it restores the leather and adds a nice shine.  You have to put it on evenly, kind of like waxing the floor.

4.  Buff

I used my husbands car buffer.  It worked so great and took a lot of hard work out of it.  If you don’t have one, buy one, they only cost about $30 bucks, you won’t regret it!

The project entailed a lot of elbow grease, but the application of the products was pretty easy.  It took me about 4 days to complete 2 Chairs and 2 Ottomans.  Here is the finished product.

They came out really nice, darker than what I wanted but I have a heavy hand and wanted to make sure there were no streaks. 

I AM NOT AN EXPERT!  Do your homework! HOW TO DYE LEATHER FUNITURE 

And before you jump into this project lets wait and see how mine hold up! <wink>