Leather Sofa is an elegant piece of furniture that, in any form or shape, always gives a timeless appearance. You know where the leather comes from; it is made from the hides of cattle. But what you are unaware of is the type of leather to look for while buying its sofa and taking care of the same. So, making things nice and clear, here is our solid article that covers them both.
Leather Types
Leather has plenty of styles, colours and durability more than the fabric. Its types include genuine leather, grain, and aniline.
Genuine leather is the one without technicalities. It is the one you typically see at an antique store. It has the power to hold off dust mites, pet hair, and anything else that you do not like to show on your furniture. It’s the most hygienic option that requires less cleaning, rubbing or scrubbing compared to the fabric sofa. Also, the smell of leather is pleasantly rich.
Grain leather is made to impress with its correction feature or the different sanding process it undergoes to provide corrected top and full-grain leather.
Corrected leather is a scar, stretch mark and wrinkle-free. They have no natural markings.
Top grain is just the top part of the leather, similar to the upper skin.
Full-grain has beautiful variations like suntan, animal bites and stretch marks. It is the most natural form of leather that changes with time. It absorbs things it gets in touch with like dirt, water, oil, etc.
Aniline is the process of dyeing leather hides after its tanning. There are types of it, the semi and full aniline; both appear in difference. Semi-aniline leather is dyed with an amount of protective coating against stains and fading.
Aniline or full-aniline leather has natural features intact like the full-grain type. Here the dye is wholly soaked to have a deep colour. No extra coating is added for protection. It’s a soft and expensive item.
Pigmented leather is a less expensive material with the colour applied to its surface. It is not dyed, but its finish protects against scratches and stains.
Which is the Best Leather Type?
Genuine leather comprises layers of leather bonded together, giving much thickness to the sofa.
Top grain is just the outer part of the skin. Judging by that, the quality is not very high.
Pigmented leather is the quality to opt for because of its beautiful and decorated look. Sofas made of it suit areas like offices, dining rooms, doctors’ waiting rooms, etc. Also, it’s known to represent an artistic expression.
Which Leather Sofa to Buy?
Depending upon your lifestyle, spaces and situation, you can choose to buy the best leather couch. By lifestyle, it means you have children and pets living with you. By spaces, it needs no clarity, and by the situation, it means how much you can spend on the leather sofa.
Other points to consider include buying the zippered seat cushions because of their easily refilling. And not purchasing the combination of leather-vinyl as the former outlives the latter.
Taking Care of Leather Sofa
To treat the leather sofa like your darling and keeping its beauty for a long time, you need to give the right kind of care. The following assists the cause.
- Leather cracks and fades away when they come close to the heat sources. It dries up the material fast, so necessary is to not place the leather sofas closely to the fireplaces or under direct sunlight.
- Dust the sofa every week with a clean white cloth. If the dirt is accumulated, then use a damp cloth. Make sure before using the cloth; you must test it on the other side of the leather sofa, so to see if any damage occurs.
- Use a dry cloth to clean spills and grease stains. Let that area to spot dry. Do not wipe as it will spread out the spill to further. The grease spots go away after a short period if it doesn’t, then contact a leather cleaning expert.
- Only use a suitable leather conditioner instead of the soaps, cleaning solvents, detergents, or ammonia to remove stains.
- Never use large amounts of water on the stains as it may cause more damage than those stains.
- Scratches on leather sofas come in because of sharp objects. Advice is to not use near them. You can clean the scratched surface with your clean fingers or chamois. Also, some distilled water and dry cloth can clear scratches.
- Do not place printed materials on leather sofas as they absorb dyes easily. They are tough to remove once ink comes in contact with the leather.
- You can take the further step of buying protected leather if you have pets at home. A protection plan is the best related to the big fat purchase of leather sofas. It’s a financial decision that you sure would not ignore.
