Sunday, May 9, 2010

Guest Blogger - Keeping It Simple - How To Dye Leather Furniture

Hello all of you Someday Crafts readers! I so excited to be guest posting today. I love Michelle's blog. It is one of my favorites!
Let me introduce myself, I'm Kaysi from Keeping It Simple

Keeping It Simple


Like the name of my blog, I like all things simple! I'm a simple person and I wouldn't want it any other way! I love to do all things crafty! I have a bit of everything at my blog.

Here are a few of my favorites:





Today I wanted to show you how I turned this:

into this:


I got this chair at a garage sale for $5. It was super dirty, but the chair itself wasn't in bad shape. The cushion was beyond repair though, I had to just reupholster it. I didn't even know you could dye leather until I googled it and found out how. So now I'm going to show you how to dye leather.

What you will need:

-Leather Dye
-Acetone
-Spray bottle
-Gloves
-Cloths (or an old sock :D)
-Leather finisher
You can actually combine dyes if you need to. The brown that I got wasn't dark enough, so I combined it with a black dye to get the dark brown.

1) First you will need to clean the leather with acetone and a cloth. Using a sock, I went all over the chair. (I did clean it with soap and water to get all the dust off)
This is how it looked after the acetone.
Notice the different in color, it really cleans it!

Now it's time to dye the leather!!
2) With water, I sprayed the chair to make it damp. Because I had such a big area, I would spray a little area at a time and then dye it and then spray another area.

3) Put the dye onto the cloth and wipe it all over the chair. (Wear gloves!! I made this mistake and was cleaning dye off my hands for a week). Dye the whole area trying to make it as even as possible

4) After each coat, take a dry cloth and rub off the excess dye

Do as many coats that you need. This is what mine looked like after 6 coats of dye. I let it dry about 1 1/2 hours between coats

Now you have to use a finisher to protect the leather and dye.

5) Using the spray bottle, I sprayed the finisher on the chair. Like the water, I did a little at a time.

6) Then with a damp cloth, I spread the finish evenly. I used long strokes to do this.

The finish leaves a nice gloss!

Because the cushion was ripped and not in good shape, I just put fabric over it. I used a thick ribbon for the edge in the front of the cushion. It looks so much better now though and I love just looking at it!!

I wanted to use a flowery fabric but my husband didn't care for it, so I made a pillow to add a little girly touch :)
This is actually a really easy process! You can dye shoes, belts, purses and furniture!
Thanks Michelle for having me on your blog today!!

You should stop by Keeping It Simple and see what else I have!

Kaysi, that is a great tip and technique! I never knew you could dye leather, but now that I think about it, of course you have to be able to dye leather. I love the idea of being about to change the colors of shoes, belts and furniture! Head over to Keep It Simple for more inspiring tutorials. Kaysi is great and you would love having Keep It Simple in your blog roll. Become a followers today!



Linking to Finding Fabulous, Romantic Home -Show and Tell Friday, Miss Mustard Seed -Furniture Feature Friday, Lit and Laundry - Finished For Friday, The Inspired Room, Remodelaholics Anonymous, Poppies At Play - Creative Cats , Crafts In Bloom, Kojo Designs - Friday Fun Finds, Fingerprints on the Fridge - Feature Yourself Friday. The Girl Creative - New Friend Friday, That's So Cuegly - Craft Concoction, Sweet Charli



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36 comments:

  1. That is awesome! I had no idea it could be done!! It looks absolutely fabulous!

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  2. leather dying looks so good!

    Kim @ http://frostmeblog.blogspot.com
    party inspiration

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  3. love it and keeping this in mind for when my shoes wear out. great tutorial!

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  4. thanks for featuring a little lovely as the "blog to watch"!!!

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  5. I too had no idea it was this simple.. thanks for sharing!

    http://thewondersofdoing.blogspot.com/

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  6. This is so cool! I will be doing some garage sale shopping this summer!!Thanks for sharing this with us!
    Angela
    amamas2centsworth.blogpot.com/

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  7. What an amazing transformation that chair took! It looks beautiful!

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  8. This is great info! I'd love for you to share this on Modern Craftswoman Monday! Rory

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  9. This is just so extraordinary! I have never heard of this. I'm a new follower but dont go back to my blog because my project is pretty lame next to yours. LOL Thanks for sharing!

    Anne-Marie

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  10. This is awesome! Does anyone know if that finisher leaves the leather shiny and soft, or more like patent leather, where it might lose some of it's softness to the shine?

    Hope that makes sense. But I love it!

    :)

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  11. Wow...that is super cool! Acetone really cleaned up the leather too! I wish I had read this earlier! I was speaking with a lady while picking up paint yesterday who has a bright 80's turquoise greenish couch that she was painting a room around. The obvious suggestion is slip covers or reupholstering it..I suggested using neutrals and using throws with lots of whites and rattan type furniture in. Never in a million years would I've ever of thought to just dye it.

    What a great post!!!

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  12. Where do you get the leather dye?

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  13. Awesome!! I have a chair (leather) that is stained and this would be the perfect solution. Thanks so much
    HUgs
    SueAnn

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  14. If I had not alread seen my friend do the same with a leather chair for her boyfriend I would not have believed it could look so good. Great job and thank you for sharing.

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  15. So, I saw this chair featured on another blog and CANNOT believe how awesome it looks! It is soooo stinkin' cute! Who would have ever thought of doing that? Not me! Thanks for sharing I love it!

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  16. This is GREAT! I have an end table to work on and it has a leather square on top that needs this done to it!! I saw your post on Poppies at Play for Creative Cat!

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  17. Thanks so much for this post. I need to dye two large dark red leather sofas that are in great shape except for the color. It made the "Top Five Hits" at Singing With Birds this week!

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  18. Sheena:

    The finisher left it shiny and it didn't really do anything to the texture. It feels the same way as before

    Kaysi

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  19. Meghan:
    I got the dye at an online store called leather unlimited but you can also get it on ebay.

    Kaysi

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  20. Great tutorial! thanks for sharing. I just featured you over at The Idea Room.

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  21. This is fantastic! I didn't know you could change the color of leather! I'm so excited because I have a hideous shade of terra cotta for my love seat right now (hand-me-down) and would absolutely love to change it to chocolate brown! Do you know how many ounces of dye to use to cover a square foot? If I do this I want to be sure I order enough ;o)

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  22. after reading the blog I went to dye my furniture and the result was spectacular! recommend it, do it, and I congratulate the creator of the blog. thanks for your contribution!

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  23. love it and keeping this in mind for when my shoes wear out. great tutorial!

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  24. This is great, I own a furniture store and a chair like that would cost around $700 dollars. It is great that you could turn a 5 dollar chair into a masterpiece.

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  25. That is so cool. Wow... what a beautiful transformation there is. Thanks for sharing that quick tips.

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  26. Wow, what a makeover. I'm a big fan of this type color. I love how quick and simple it is to use. Did you wax the paint after it dried? I find it gives it a protective layer to stop it from chipping.Etched glass

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  27. Yes I also would love to know how much dye covers how much area as I have a large sectional sofa to do!

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  28. That's great.... the process is so easy to do .... thanks for the share

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  29. After reading the blog I went to dye my furniture and the result was spectacular! and I congratulate the creator of the blog..Hotel furniture.. thanks for your contribution!

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  30. Leather is basically created via tanning, consists of a process that alters the protein structure of the skin of fermentable animal rawhide. Many of you may know it but for those who don’t, the rawhides used for making leather is primarily cattle hide. The procedure of producing leather is really tedious and quite expensive, thus the cost of such furniture is bit expensive. However due to the elegance and several other factors, the demands for leather-made furniture has always been constant. In spite of the cost factor, many people still prefer them above everything because of several advantages that it offers.

    Upholstery Leather Supplier

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  31. Diy furniture is always my favorite and always search the different trick to learn it more. All the step are so easy and i will definitely try this too!!. very informative article!!

    Furniture Store Dallas

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  32. The chair looks great, but I would like to provide a little additional information. The dye that was used for this project is designed for vegetable tanned leather which is a different process than the chromium tanning used for upholstery hides. Results are not guaranteed. If you are going to attempt this, I would highly recommend selecting a darker shade than that of the existing leather and use a professional if you are seeking to dye something of high value.

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  33. I really love the look and feel of leather furniture in Thousand Oaks. It is so pretty in a new home with dark wood floors. Yes, I've thought about this a lot.

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Thanks for leaving a comment. I always like to know what you think of the projects I highlight!

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