Curbly

I use shoe polish to fill in the scratches, then go back over the entire chair with leather cleaner/conditioner.

Many of the tips for cleaning sofas I have seen by professional companies use food grade oils (linseed/flaxseed), so I think this should be fine.  Thanks for the tip!

Unfortunately my chair is fake leather. I'm pretty sure this wont work on the fake stuff. It looks like you got pretty amazing results though, that's awesome.

Hi it's Tricia from Mash-Up Chic. I used this technique months ago and the leather still looks amazing, and there are no issues with staining or residual oil.  I'd do this again in a heartbeat.  Someone commented on my page that they have a $8000 custom leather sectional and they wouldn't dare do this . . . . . I can't relate to that, and told her I may not either in her shoes.  But I don't have shoes that have $8000 custom sofas either (I bet those are some nice shoes!).  So, undersrtand the concerns - but based on my experience, this was a great, out of the cabinet fix that has worked in the long run.  The leather on this sofa is the glossier kind, I woudl probably be concerned to try on a dryer, more porous type. Good luck kids!

Trish

www.mash-upchic.blogspot.com

Thanks for the tips Karen and Keter! Keter, my shoe guy recommended Lexol for my gray leather car upholstery. It conditioned the leather nicely and did hide the little wear that's  visible. For some reason, he was very specific in saying it was for car upholstery, not furniiture. I didn't  persue his claim as I was only interested in the former at the time. 

No, no, no. If you're using enough of ANY oil to darken the leather, you're using enough to saturate it, and that will eventually break it down. Olive oil is used (sparingly!) in some leatherworking instances because it darkens *less* than some other oils, so it's extra *bad* for this purpose.

In other words, it's a great dishonest solution if you want to hide a problem long enough to sell the couch, but that's about it.

I'm not a leather expert, but I have been caring for leather coats, horse saddles and tack, and leather furniture most of my life. I have been using Howard Feed-n-Wax on my BLACK, whole-grain leather furniture for over a decade now and it works wonders.  It's beeswax, carnauba wax and orange oil, so nothing to dry out the leather. I would be a little worried about olive oil going rancid.  Any oil based formula will darken leather, so bear that in mind.  For light color leather, I wouldn't use anything but leather cleaner and maybe a little Lexol - the kind specifically made for light colored leather.  It's always safest to test a cleaner or finish on a spot that doesn't show and let it sit a week to see what it does before using it on the whole piece.

If you have, or suspect that you have BONDED leather...use only a rag with a TINY amount of clear almond oil (rub a few drops between your hands and then wipe them on the rag).  Anything else, including water, may make it separate layers and peel.

I am interested in hearing what experts have to say (Which i think was the purpose of the post), but judging by the before and after im willing to try this. 

I've used a variety of potions, lotions, foams and wipes and so far the best i've found is a lotion called Mr. Leather. I found it at meijer. I need to read the label whenb i get home but I think it might just be a natural oil based lotion. The results dont look quite as good as the image above though...

You should ask an expert BEFORE posting a recommendation.