Restoration Hardware Lancaster Brompton Cocoa sofa - needs some serious attention!

[ja2000on]

Hi Roger,

Thanks so much for the help!

The soiling is mostly on the right hand armrest in Photo 3, you will see a dark spot. Could just be the leather though.

My ultimate goal is to really bring this sofa back to life and make it look like new. I'd like the whole sofa to look like the untouched leather on the bottom of the cushions as you can see in the lower section of Photo 5 under the zipper. I love the rich color and crumbled wax paper like finish. Is it possible to rejuvenate the sofa to look like this?



My biggest concern is that I don't make the leather all the same color. I love the crumbled wax paper like finish with the lights/darks & highs/lows.

I want to really avoid it looking like this at all costs...

Hey Roger,

I used 80% of the bottle of Hydrator like you said to do and wrapped it in a clear garbage bag. Even though I used 80% of the bottle the cushion absorbed ALL of it and still wasn't very wet, just damp, and did not ooze out when pinched.

I tried working out all the creases but they're DEEP and even though I punched and massaged it this is how it looks. I let it sit for 24 hours for hydrating and this is now what it looks like. They leather looks much better but I'm concerned about the color difference now on the left side of the cushion where we worked the degreaser deep and rubbed hard with the towel. It seems to have removed a lot of the high/low color. What should I do now? Go straight to the fatliquor process?

[Roger Koh]

>>> and did not ooze out when pinched.

When the leather structure is not fully hydrated with moisture oozing out when press with fingers, logically -
1- the creases will fail to response
2- the 24 hours dwelling will not work as well.


>>> the color difference now on the left side

Viewing from the last pictures, it shows that it is still damp on the left side, while the right side is much drier, for the color difference.
Show the same picture when it is fully dry - to determine the color difference.


>>> What should I do now?

Lay it flat, stretch it out, let it dry, show another picture and we can go from there . . .


>>> Go straight to the fatliquor process?

Logically, after viewing the completely dried cushion, we have to make a U-turn back to Hydrator-3.3 again with complete saturation or wetting out, this means the thickness of the leather and checking out the reverse suede side if it is wet as well . . .



Roger Koh
Leather, Skin & Hair Care System Formulator
Consultant / Practitioner / Instructor / Online-Life-Coaching
online store: www.leatherdoctor.com
forum: www.leathercleaningrestorationforum.com
email: [email protected]

[ja2000on]

>>> and did not ooze out when pinched.

When the leather structure is not fully hydrated with moisture oozing out when press with fingers, logically -
1- the creases will fail to response
2- the 24 hours dwelling will not work as well.


>>> the color difference now on the left side

Viewing from the last pictures, it shows that it is still damp on the left side, while the right side is much drier, for the color difference.
Show the same picture when it is fully dry - to determine the color difference.


>>> What should I do now?

Lay it flat, stretch it out, let it dry, show another picture and we can go from there . . .


>>> Go straight to the fatliquor process?

Logically, after viewing the completely dried cushion, we have to make a U-turn back to Hydrator-3.3 again with complete saturation or wetting out, this means the thickness of the leather and checking out the reverse suede side if it is wet as well . . .



Roger Koh
Leather, Skin & Hair Care System Formulator
Consultant / Practitioner / Instructor / Online-Life-Coaching
online store: www.leatherdoctor.com
forum: www.leathercleaningrestorationforum.com
email: [email protected]

You were right, the left side was still just damp. Here are the photos of it dry and all the color came back. Also notice how I hydrated the left side more and the leather is MUCH more smooth where as the right side (bottom) is much more wrinkly. I think I need A LOT more hydrator to smooth this thing out. I placed another order for it.

The reverse side of the suede was just damp as well. I used 80% of the bottle and the leather still was absorbing all of it...its super dry.

[Roger Koh]

(Please send your pictures and technical questions here instead of email)

Hi Roger,

I just realized that I don't think the color is gone. I think that side of the cushion is just still wet. The other side is much dryer because I soaked the left side more because thats where the stain was. But after looking closely at the leather the soaked area is much smoother and the area just to the right is still wrinkly (Photos attached). Does that mean the wrinkly areas need a LOT more Hydrator? Should I wait to add more Hydrator and get it soaking wet before moving on to the Fatliquor process?

I just placed a bigger order.

Thanks,

Jason


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[Roger Koh]

>>> Does that mean the wrinkly areas need a LOT more Hydrator?

The entire thickness of the leather should be wet out through the reverse suede side (the cushion inside is wrapped with plastic bag).


>>> Should I wait to add more Hydrator and get it soaking wet before moving on to the Fatliquor process?

Yes! Until the wrinkling (Hydrator-3.3) is to satisfaction before working on suppleness (Fatliquor-5.0).


Roger Koh
Leather, Skin & Hair Care System Formulator
Consultant / Practitioner / Instructor / Online-Life-Coaching
online store: www.leatherdoctor.com
forum: www.leathercleaningrestorationforum.com
email: [email protected]

[ja2000on]

>>> Does that mean the wrinkly areas need a LOT more Hydrator?

The entire thickness of the leather should be wet out through the reverse suede side (the cushion inside is wrapped with plastic bag).


>>> Should I wait to add more Hydrator and get it soaking wet before moving on to the Fatliquor process?

Yes! Until the wrinkling (Hydrator-3.3) is to satisfaction before working on suppleness (Fatliquor-5.0).


Roger Koh
Leather, Skin & Hair Care System Formulator
Consultant / Practitioner / Instructor / Online-Life-Coaching
online store: www.leatherdoctor.com
forum: www.leathercleaningrestorationforum.com
email: [email protected]

Great - I will soak with Hydrator through to the suede side as soon as I receive it.

I had one question about the Fatliquor. My question is about how much Fatliquor should I expect use on this one cushion? I know you mention to get it to about 14% but I don't have a moisture meter. Is there a rule-of-thumb or do I need a moisture meter?

[Roger Koh]

>>> Is there a rule-of-thumb or do I need a moisture meter?

Moisture meter is not necessary. To go by the rule-of-thumb, observed that the last application gets absorbed much slower into the thickness of the leather. And any surface remaining is clean off with Hydrator-3.3 to reduce a sticky surface. The purpose of fatliquoring is to restore plumpness and suppleness to the leather structure. Thus creases and wrinkling is reduced to smoothness.

[ja2000on]

>>> Is there a rule-of-thumb or do I need a moisture meter?

Moisture meter is not necessary. To go by the rule-of-thumb, observed that the last application gets absorbed much slower into the thickness of the leather. And any surface remaining is clean off with Hydrator-3.3 to reduce a sticky surface. The purpose of fatliquoring is to restore plumpness and suppleness to the leather structure. Thus creases and wrinkling is reduced to smoothness.

Hi Roger!

So I got my latest order and continued to use another entire bottle of Hydrator on this one cushion. So far I've used two entire bottles on this one cushion. I wrapped it in a plastic bag for 24 hours and it was fairly dry after. It seemed like no matter how much I soaked it in Hydrator it never completely saturated the suede underside. It was cold and damp on the underside but not wet.

Nevertheless I decided to move on to the Fatliquor process because after two full bottles of Hydrator I figured that was sufficient. These photos are after 2 coats of Fatliquor and about 25% dry and about to put another coat. Does this look right?