Leather sofas will not fail to beautify the decor of your home. They have been everyone’s favorite for a very long time.
However, some accidents like pen marks is sometimes inevitable and you need to handle the problem immediately. But no worries, you can repair it all by yourself as shown in our simple tutorial on how to clean scratches from leather sofa below.
How to Clean Scratches from Leather Sofa
Prepare these supplies:
- Commercial leather cleaner
- Commercial leather conditioner
- Leather repair kit, optional
- Leather marker, optional
- White vinegar, optional
- Whiter vinegar, optional
Follow these steps:
Prepare these supplies
Before cleaning the scratches on your leather sofa, you need to prepare the surface so you can get the job done conveniently. It means that the dust, pet hair, and other loose debris need to get cleaned. Here’s what you can do:
- Brush the loose debris until you are sure that the they are cleaned completely.
- Apply the leather cleaner onto the surface of your sofa so you won’t embed any dirt.
- If you don’t have a commercial leather cleaner around, you can use white vinegar as an alternative to the cleaning agent. Just add a few drops into a clean microfiber cloth and apply it to the sofa.
Condition the sofa
The next step is to condition the sofa which is very important after you applied the cleaning solution. Here’s what you can do:
- Add a small leather condition onto another clean microfiber cloth.
- Apply the conditioner in a circular motion on the affected area gently. You can start working from the scratches and outwards. You may need to repeat the step until the scratches are removed.
- Let the conditioner sit for around 10 minutes so it can be absorbed into the leather.
- Buff the residue on the surface of the sofa.
(Read also: How to Clean Suede Sofa Safely All by Yourself)
Recolor if necessary
The severity of the scratches and the type of your leather may not really let the cleaning agent solve the problems. If you still notice some pen marks after conditioning the sofa, you can use leather markers.
Here’s what you can do:
- Test the marker in the hidden spot of your leather sofa to see if the color matches perfectly.
- If you are sure that it matches, you can apply it to the scratches.
- Let the marker dry for a while before you reapply another coat.
Get a leather repair kit
If you still can’t get the pen marks removed, you need to take out the last resource which is your leather repair kit. It generally contains everything you need to deal with the problem. You can always follow the manufacturers’ instructions to check the steps that you need to do.
The general job may involve the below steps:
- Apply the leather cleaner and binder to strengthen the affected area.
- After it’s dry, you can sand the affected area, then remove the excess dust.
- Apply the leather filler to fill the affected area.
- Sand and brush it again.
- Recolor and finish everything.
