This is what severe sun damage looks like on leather furniture

[drcollie]

Recently a forum member sent me photos at my request of their 11-year-old Hancock and Moore Somerset Sofa they were replacing. I wanted to see if it could be repaired rather than replaced. The Somerset is a heavy-framed piece, I would never expect it to need replacement in such a short period of time. When the photos came in the piece was much worse than I expected and the hides not salvageable. This is probably the worst I have ever seen, and I shared the photos with the CEO of H&M and we discussed it on the phone. This appears to be a pure aniline hide that was placed in a room with direct sun on it. As you can see, it has not fared well. Direct sunlight will blow the color out of anything, even a hardwood floor. If you have streaming sunlight in your home, take steps to control it so furnishing and rooms will not wind up like this.




In my store which has West Facing, I have 'Airport Tower' dark shades I drop down every day when the sun clocks around, in addition to low-E windows. This darkens the store front from the street, but I have to have them to prevent fading of my floor models. I custom-ordered these to fit my three large windows across the front.



At my home, I have (5) large palladium windows that are second-story high, and as soon as we moved into the house 15 years ago I hired a solar tint company to come out and film them as well as the sliding glass doors you see behind the sofa. They are 90% UV blockage, and that has worked well, but even so I have some slight fade on my leather sofas and recliners in that room - nothing too severe however. Here's my 15-year-old sofa in that room:



Often I will hear comments such as "That brand didn't hold up well for me, I won't use them again" when often the case is that you as the owner need to take steps to control the environment of use, and keep the pieces clean, conditioned, softened and protected. Its not 'buy it and forget it, just use it'. I mean, you CAN do that, but its doubtful you will get the lifespan out of the piece that you expect. Watch what is going on in your room environments, and if you see sun damage (its slow, but relentless) take some steps to counter it.