Re-dye of an old aniline leather sofa

[drcollie]

I have a pair of 2670 Leathercraft sofas in my home, one of which is now 17 years old. The Sun has had its way with the one closest to the windows over time, even through I have 3M solar film on the upper windows and the patio doors are Anderson Super Low E designed for Florida homes. As you can see from this photo, there is a lot of light coming in the room:



The first step was to cut the leather "flag" off under the seat cushion and send that off to Pam at Leather Solutions International so she could mix me up a bottle of aniline dye (8 oz) custom to the leather. I also needed her basic leather cleaning kit which I have at the store.

http://www.leathersi.com/Aniline-Col...hers_p_24.html

Next was to call Leathercraft and order three new seat cores as these had lost their resiliency. Unlike Hancock and Moore, who furnish FREE new seat cores upon request to the original customer, these three seat cores with shipping were $ 380. (Yet one more reason to buy H&M !). The back on the 2670 is a tight back unit, otherwise I would have replaced them as well. Frame and springs are solid.

So here's what the sofa looks like before I start:



I go over the entire piece with leather cleaner from Leather Solutions Int'l so we have a clean surface to work with, then I put down a painter's drop cloth to catch any errant drops of the water-based dye Pam mixed up. Once that was done I applied one coat with a microfiber towel (be sure to use latex gloves unless you want your fingers stained for several days). After the first coat I used a hair dryer to go over it all to speed drying, then two more coats went on for a total of three. More hair dryer, then a liberal coat of Leather Softener which I left on for two hours. Finally when that was dry I used the topcoat Protectant to complete the job. Here's the result (photos taken before fully dry)



Looks MUCH better! I would say while not perfect, its a 90% improvement -which is about as good as you can expect I will used these two sofas probably another 5 years or so, then replace them with a pair of H&M units. This is not difficult to do - so if you have faded aniline leather don't toss the piece - rejuvenate it! With a steady hand and a little patience - you can do it.