Hi Leather Doctors -
I picked up an off-white/stone-colored leather chair and loveseat at a garage sale. I am no expert but the leather seems to be in good condition with no scratches or significant wear. The brand is "Nicoletti" (made in Italy) and I thought I had remembered they were a good brand but I can't find them online. Both chairs looked kind of dirty and the sofa has some transfer staining from a red pillow they used on it.
After I brought it home, I looked on Amazon and found the best rated leather cleaner I could find and sprayed it on and wipe it off with very little improvement on either the dirty gray areas or the red pillow color transfer areas. The cleaner said for stubborn stains to spray it on and let it sit for a few minutes before wiping off. So I did. And I am afraid now I ruined both chairs. After it soaked in a little, I started to wipe it off and it started ... peeling (that's the best way I can describe it). It doesn't look like any of the photos I can find on this forum. The peeling layer is very very thin -- like a thin layer of dried elmers glue. Strangely, underneath the area that peeled is beautiful clean leather. It's almost like there was a protective top coat of some kind and when it peeled off, the stains, dirty areas and red transfer color peeled off too. So what do I do now? Peel both chairs entirely? It would take forever and about 50 bottles of this cleaner. Did I ruin the chairs? Or is there some way to clean off the rest of the coating and stains and re-apply the coating?
If clean, these chairs would be perfect for my new living room and I am just heartbroken about possibly ruining them. Can you recommend some other product(s) I can try? I took as many good photos as I could. Oh and if you know what type of leather this in, I would love to know that too!
Thanks sooooooooo much,
Olga