Have you ever messed up something in your home that was really expensive? Would you like to be able to fix yourself? Like your dream recliner in your living room, or your beautiful leather furniture? Perhaps it was the seat in your brand new car, which now has a bad scratch across the floor, elegant and sleek new fabric. So what are you going to do? You start searching for answers to this problem online while you swear under your breath. And what are you going to find? Tons of “As Seen On TV” commercials, fabric repair kits do it yourself, hokey-looking patches and even goo tubes, all pretending to make the question vanish.
When you narrow your choices to your attack strategy, make a list of advantages and disadvantages, read reviews, see what others suggest, and what items tend to be the most effective.
So what are the benefits of home-made leather repair? The low cost, of course, is very tempting. Some of the comments say it works well, but if you read between the rows, what else can you know? Upon reading these leather repair kits in detail, you say, “What the hell, its only twenty bucks, I’m going to try this one!” and order it. Your credit card will be paid, your order will be shipped, and your brand new leather repair kit will be on its way.
You’re excited to get right to the point once the package arrives, and leave your unfortunate error of messing the leather behind you. You read the directions explaining how simple and busy it will be to do this fix. The procedure is quite easy, some solvent is applied over the leather that has been affected, and you leave it to dry. But, the next step is somewhat difficult. Your leather furniture’s good texture in that region is now completely smooth, and the final step is now to stain the patch. This kit has provided you some interesting options for coloring the remaining white that covers the area that has been affected. Those “packages” are made up of red, blue, yellow, green, grey, and four different brown shades. So… What are you going to do? There are about three sentences that explain how to “take your hue” and probably change the colors to get the outcome you like. And the sad thing is that these small paint cans are about the size of a ketchup packet. What if you mess up while the shades are mixed? Were you really out of reach now? Or do you need to find an alternative way to cover up this leather repair scar? Luckily for you, you are smarter than the average bear and have been able to match the hue to a pretty darn good fit. And the fabric patch was covered up as good. The color is still a little off, but yeah, there’s no longer a vacuum there, and that’s what counts.
Already, it’s been about a month and you’ve overlooked all but this furniture fix you’ve carried off on your own so skillfully. (Insert touch here at the back). It’s been inexpensive, so no financial burden is unforgettable, the fix itself has gone pretty smooth, and what meets the eye is a somewhat unnoticeable brown hue. Sadly, when you keep sitting on your favorite chair or couch, day after day, the fix is snickering at you from below it’s cleverly decorated surface. Often these forms of fixes don’t stand the test of time… Or the regular standard wear check. Often the edges start peeling first, or sometimes the hole or gap just pops back completely intact, and you are accepted with the knowing smile of the rugged repair of your sofa. Unfortunately, this form of repair of furniture is nothing but a simple short-term solution. In these types of packages, the cheap filler additives usually are nothing more than buffed up school glue for children with a bit of paint applied to them. Of example, they can fit well for the tiniest of bruises or scuffs, but the best option is to get the advice of a doctor for really visible places. Would you like your luxury furniture to be like a dummy crash test??
The main drawback of using a package like this is that if it doesn’t perform properly, the measures to correct the problem will be even slower than the (again) attempt to fix it. You know, the patch / compound that now partly protects the previous damage makes matters worse. It is much more challenging to have it correctly patched once these techniques have already been used and are fully set. Next, to completely expose all the filler in effect, the color / color must be stripped away. First, all the filler has to be stripped from the initial harm and cleaned. The worst thing about this is that leather can ingest this filler because it is a fragile and brittle substance and can actually be more strained and weakened than ever before. Now the break or slash may be bigger, or the scratch may be more prominent to eliminate the patch. And to implement and conform properly to the fresh, effective patch, the whole repair region needs to be thoroughly washed. Then it’s time to start anew, to resurface and restore the leather that is actually damaged. It can make the initial problem area larger than it began to repair the original harm and even warp the fabric. Clearly, if that a lot of work is going to replace the patch, it will wind up being more expensive than making someone else do it right the first time.
Repairing leather furniture is a multi-stage procedure that can lead to an increase in the quality of your furniture when done in the right way. If the wrong way is performed, certain forms of fixes can fall short and become a lengthy process that will eventually cost you precious time and money. It seems to me that all these fast and easy repair kits “As seen on TV” and “Do It Your Self” are all an idea. The bottom line is, do you really want a quick, easy repair that will need to be replicated shortly down the road? It’s the old debate regarding age: price vs quantity. In this situation, it simply means, do you want it to be done correctly for the first time with quality craftsmanship, or risk having to restore the same furniture again and again?
It’s your decision, and my answer is simple: I don’t.