Good morning everyone.
A random DIY post thrown in here for good measure.
So a couple weeks ago I was on the hunt for some vintage leather chairs for the shop. I had an idea in my head but the idea came a little late for ordering new pre-shop redo for late summer [will be sharing that in the next few days]
I came across a pair of leather chairs on Kijiji and after a complicated pickup conversation that included long lulls of "do you still have these?" "when can we come?" the chairs came home with us.
When we went to pick these guys up and because I was so excited to finally have a firm date for pickup I wasn't on my best critical review of these chairs upon initial inspection.
We loaded them into the truck and the whole way home I kept turning around and looking at them in the box. They were massive number 1 and number 2 so sun roached they barely looked like leather. I was having SEVERE buyers remorse.
A friend was waiting for me for a dinner date at our house when we got home and she had the "you've succumbed to your crazy squirrel brain" look on her face. I knew they did not look good at this point.
So moral of my story here is I found a really great product [well i didn't discover it or anything] but I used it and I needed to share it with all of you.
and if you'll remember, i said i was buying these chairs for the shop but because of their size they wouldn't fit through our limited front door [another oops] so with a lot of moving and shaking and the plan already in place to replace our sofa upstairs these chairs made a home in our basement.
before i get to the "before" photos and actual diy part of this adventure, i thought i'd show you where these ended up and how they turned out. it's always fun to see the pretty first and then get into the dirty details. we scored a great deal on these chairs and in a couple photos you'll see why.
having said that however, these were EXTREMELY expensive custom made hide chairs when new. the leather sample was still underneath the seat and they are soooo comfortable. stuffed with down and heavy.
and a by product of all this moving furniture is the original kijiji find leather chair that was down here is shoved aside waiting to move upstairs. the furniture shuffle is happening. domino effect right?
Alright let's talk nitty gritty now.
The below is the before. These damn chairs were almost white they were so dried out. I'm pretty sure they were living in a sun room and the people we purchased them from just decided to get new chairs instead of treat them. I knew there must be a solution for these as many people have saddles, boots, chairs, and everything that dries out and needs a little care.
I started researching dried leather treatment and came across this product called Leather Honey on Amazon.
this is what is looks like and when they say honey, they mean honey. it has a thick syrupy consistency and goes on just like you would imagine dumping it onto pancakes.
i bought 1 bottle as it isn't super cheap and i wasn't sure at this point how well it was going to work. it ended up that because these chairs are so large, i got through 1 chair and the ottoman with 1 bottle. i used a clean shop rag and just started massaging it into the leather until everything was covered.
the shot of the arms was after the first chair completed drying over night with a small oscillating fan running in our garage. the chairs took on an aged library chair look and at that point Trevor started with the "maybe we should keep these" talk. my favourite kind of talk. means i don't have to work too hard to get what i want as i was already thinking this.
fully dry after 1 coat. plus my miniature helper throwing plastic rings out of her playpen.
in the end to get to the chairs at the beginning of this post, i did 1 full coat of all pieces 2 chairs and 1 ottoman and then did a good touch up coat after fully drying on both chairs.
there are still some slightly drier areas on one chair but it also gives them an aged look and as they will never see the sun now in my basement i know it won't get worse.
to wrap up, this is NOT A SPONSORED post but just an informational just in case you too made a slightly poor purchase decision that ended up being a great decision purchase OR you have some leather doing the wonky on you as well. i was fully impressed with the leather honey and even though it is sticky and your hands will be covered in it, it works wonderfully.
Have a great day everyone,
Meg
