Rub N Restore, Inc. Leather Restoration

It's back to school and this year that meant a rental for two of my college age kiddo's. That also meant furnishing said rental on a dime, um, or as few dimes as possible!

A few of the items were their own bedroom sets, a few pieces donated from mom, dad and family friends, but in the end we had to buy some things. Mainly things for the living room. We found several really nice inexpensive pieces on Craigslist.  We found a Pottery Barn Leather sofa that was 2 years old! The cushion were perfect condition and the couch was great looking and very comfortable. It had a stain the owner said was from a toddler spill on one side. Looked like something oily, and some water stains. The owner said she tried to clean it with tips from a friend and it stained the leather. No weird smells. She replaced it with a new one and just wanted to get rid of this one. $150. YES please!

The next piece we were on the hunt for was a leather chair to complete the living area. We found a leather chair with a FREE ottoman $50, originally from Haverty's as one of their custom pieces. SCORE again! The cushions were still in great shape and very comfy and the leather felt like a well conditioned ball glove. 

After a little research I stumbled across a great little product called Rub N Restore . It is a leather dye. I purchased their cleaner, a 16 oz. bottle of their camel colored dye and a 16 oz. bottle of their sealer. We tested the camel color on the seat cushion of the chair. Oops! the color looked more like the original color of the chair online - should have paid more attention to the color description. Too light for the look we were going for. We kept the Camel color for future projects and bought a 16 oz. bottle of the Mahagony color for $59.99. The ottoman is showing our first coat of the Mahagony.

The chair had a few minor surface cracks in the leather, but there were two that were deeper and went all the way through the leater on one arm. I used a thin line of super glue on the deep cracks and then lightly sanded with 500 grit sand paper then wiped with a damp cloth. We used the cleaner on all pieces. It made a huge difference on the sofa and we almost skipped dying it but decided we loved the rich Mahagony color. The cracks were not visible once we dyed them. Nice surprise.

Bingo! Mahagony was the magic color. The kids now have a rich colored, high end leather set. Yes, I'm feeling a little envious. ;) Below is the final color.

The chair has two coats of the sealer. Couch had one at time of photos, but we did do two on it as well. LOVE it. They look so good. We did front back and bottom of all cushions. We ended up with about a 1/4 of a bottle left for touch ups.  Yes, I put the college kiddo's to work helping "rub".  The room mate loves it and when her parents came in they thought we had bought new furniture!  The set is in great condition and a higher end, higher quality look than we thought they would have or could afford.

Rub N Restore was delivered quickly and on time. I did watch several of their You Tube videos before taking the plunge. As shown in their videos it was easy to use. We did 3 thin coats of dye allowing to dry a few hours between each coat and then using a blow dryer on cool for a few minutes for good measure. We did two coats of the sealer and allowed it to dry for a full 12 hours before sitting on it and then another full 24 hours before it was put into regular use. The biggest draw back is it is time consuming but in less than 24 hours we had 3 recolored pieces. We did buy extra gloves, we used an old toothbrush, q-tips, and a toothpick wrapped with an old t-shirt to get into all the cracks, creases, and seams. We also "buffed" the piece with an old t-shirt between each coat. The product was easy to use and the results were amazing!

Below are two of YouTube tutorials by Rub N Restore , Inc, leather that I watched. I hope you find them useful.

Where to buy and get more info click on the link: Rub N Restore

Let me know your thoughts...

A little quirky...tinfoil night stand tutorial

Do you think outside of the box? Do you look for something a little different? Are you drawn to the road less taken?

That's where this little piece of furniture came in.

We believe each piece of old or discarded furniture has a story to tell and a possibility at new life.

That's where this little night stand came into play. It had been sitting out under my grandpa's carport without a purpose or a reason. It had been mine, then my younger sisters and when we out grew the style it went the way of discarded furniture. It ended up being passed around until it landed under the carport.

I had seen a fun and cute nightstand on pinterest and wanted to give it a try with my own twist.

When I saw this little nightstand I knew it was my chance.

Tools you'll need:
 A piece of furniture (I'd start with a smaller simple lined piece)
Tin Foil (I used the heavier grill foil in larger size)
Modge Podge
A Paint Stick (2-3)
Sandpaper (fine grit)
Paint
Glaze
Water
Paint brush
Rags

This is what I did:

1. Lightly Sanded the piece all over. (Some say this isn't necessary, I didn't want to chance it.

2. Cut my pieces of tinfoil I measured the tops, sides et cetera and added about 1/4" more. Then I crumpled each piece.

3. I started with the sides. I covered the side with a generous but not runny layer of Modge Podge then I lightly smoothed out my tinfoil and applied a light layer of Modge Podge to the dull side of the foil. I put the foil in place and using my paint stick I smoothed and worked the foil until I had it looking the way I wanted it and covering the piece. Take your time. You don't want tears and the Modge Podge does give you a little working time.

4. Work each area until covered. Don't worry about tearing pieces. Just fit them like a puzzle to get into the front and smaller areas.

5. Let dry for 4-6 hours

6. Cover the entire piece with a thin layer of Modge Podge. Let dry 12 hours. Then apply one more layer of Modge Podge. This will ensure that you have good coverage and that it will be protected.

7. Lightly sand, basically just use your fine sand paper and rub gently over the piece.  Wipe with a damp cloth.

8. I used black paint. You could use a color of your choice.  Mix it with equal parts glaze and a 1/2 tsp of water. Mix well. It will be very thin. Use your paint brush to brush a layer of the glaze over the entire piece. I let this sit for about 15 minutes. It is slow drying so you have time.  Then start to dab and wipe the piece. Highlighting the nooks and cranny's created by the foil. Repeat the process. (I did this 3 times to achieve the look and color I wanted.)

9. Last but not least - apply 1 MORE coat of Modge Podge! I actually put 2 more coats on the top to make it more durable.

Enjoy your piece!

ReVamped $30