LEATHER SOFA RENOVATION KITS

4 complete kits for the renovation of your leather sofa

Over the years, the leather of a sofa fades, cracks and loses its suppleness, and then wear speeds up. Each kit brings together the six SOFOLK products needed to restore it. Quantities are calculated to recolour the whole piece in one go: the guarantee of a perfectly even colour, from the backrest to the cushions. And grouped in a kit, these products cost you less than bought individually.

The kits are suitable for all smooth or grained leathers, pigmented or aniline, cowhide or nappa lambskin, full-grain or corrected-grain.

Which kit for your living room?

• Armchair or 4 chairs: 250 ml of leather paint, 200 ml of varnish.
• 2/3-seater sofa: 750 ml of leather paint, 500 ml of varnish.
• 4/5-seater sofa: 1.5 litres of leather paint, 500 ml of varnish and 2 pots of repair paste.
• 6/8-seat corner sofa: 2.5 litres of leather paint, 1 litre of varnish, 2 pots of repair paste and 500 ml of oil.

All kits also contain the sebum cleaner, CicaCuir and the nourishing oil.

The six products in the kit

• Sebum cleaner: removes the grease left by skin and hair, where heads and arms rest.
• CicaCuir: strengthens weakened leather and closes significant cracks.
• RépaCuir paste: fills missing material, scratches and cracks.
• Leather paint: the centrepiece of the kit, which gives the leather back its colour.
• Silky varnish with UV protection: protects the colour from rubbing and gives the finish.
• Nourishing oil: restores the leather’s suppleness.

The colour of your living room

A sofa is seen as a whole, in every light of the day: its colour must match the rest of the room. For a common colour, choose from the 22 shades in the SOFOLK colour chart. They are made as soon as your order arrives, at no extra cost. If you compare on screen, bear in mind that displays always distort colours slightly.

To give the sofa back its original shade, we recreate it from the furniture manufacturers’ colour charts or, for a decorative colour, from the RAL colour chart. The most reliable option is still a sample of your leather of 1 cm². To take it without it showing, slide your hand under the sofa: by removing a few staples from the dust cover, you can reach a hidden piece of leather. Post it to us after ordering, with your order number.

Varnish: finish and number of coats

The varnish gives the living room its final look. Satin, the most popular, suits most sofas; matt and gloss follow the leather’s original look. All our varnishes are UV-protected, which is welcome near a bay window.

• Bottle: 3 coats, or at least 2 coats with the catalyst, which can only be used with the bottle.
• Aerosol: easier to apply and quicker to dry, in 3 coats. It is a solvent-based product: ideally, varnish outdoors; indoors, ventilate the room thoroughly.

The varnish is applied as soon as the last coat of colour is dry, letting each coat dry before the next. After changing from a dark to a light shade, wait about two weeks before the first coat.

The renovation steps

1. Prepare: lightly dry-sand with 240 to 400 grit, without insisting on worn areas or seams, then degrease with acetone. A thorough clean with a soft brush and the stain remover cleaner improves adhesion further.
2. Treat the sebum: take extra care where heads and arms rest, at the top of the backrests and on the armrests. Apply the sebum cleaner there, even if no marks are visible: spray, brush, leave for 3 to 5 minutes, wipe, then rinse with lukewarm water; repeat if necessary. If a dark ring marks where the head rests, the sebum-absorbing powder becomes almost essential as a complement: it draws out the grease left in the leather (leave it for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight, then brush off). If a piece of adhesive tape sticks firmly to the leather, it is ready.
3. Repair: CicaCuir on cracks and worn areas, then the RépaCuir paste with a spatula, in thin layers.
4. Ensure adhesion: at the slightest doubt, a suspicious mark or a sofa that has rarely been cleaned, apply the adhesion primer to these areas before the colour. It significantly improves the leather paint’s adhesion on greasy leather.
5. Recolour: after testing on a hidden area, apply 2 to 4 coats with a foam roller, sponge or spray gun, in the shade between 10 and 25 °C, allowing about an hour’s drying between coats. Allow 4 coats for very light shades, reds and yellows. Cushions and backrests must not touch until fully dry.
6. Varnish: 3 coats (2 with the catalyst).
7. Nourish: the oil, 30 days after the last coat of varnish. If the leather is very dry, nourish it instead at least 15 days before recolouring.

Allow 1 to 3 days during which the sofa cannot be used, depending on the surface to be renovated, mainly because of drying times. Each step is detailed in our leather renovation guide and our leather paint FAQ.

Going further

• Tear or hole through the leather larger than 1 cm: complete with our tear repair kit.
• Seat with tired foam: the RépaCuir paste does not stretch much. On soft foam, apply more CicaCuir to limit the leather’s stretching, or replace the foam.

Products mentioned on this page

Kit contents

this kit includes the following products :

1 X LEATHER HEALER (CICACUIR) - 12 ml, sold WITHOUT box and piece of teather

1 X LEATHER REPAIR PASTE - 25GR - WHITE

1 X LEATHER PIGMENT DYE - 250 ml

1 X LEATHER SILKY VARNISH - 200 ml

1 X LEATHER NOURISHING OIL - 200 ml

1 X LEATHER SEBUM CLEANER - 200 ml

This product is suitable for renovating:

• Car
• Sofa, armchair
• Boat