How to Repair Antique Finish on a Leather Sofa

Remove all stains from the sofa before cleaning the entire sofa. Put on plastic disposable gloves. Place a small amount of leather stain remover onto a soft cotton cloth. Wipe over the surface of stains. Repeat until stain is lifted or begins to fade.

Apply a small amount of leather ink remover to a cotton ball. Go over ink sections with the cotton ball until the ink has lifted. Use a fresh cotton ball with more ink remover for stubborn ink stains. If there is no ink remover available, try rubbing alcohol or nail polish remover.

Place a generous amount of leather cleaner on a soft cotton cloth. Use leather cleaner specifically made for cleaning grime off of furniture, and to remove excess ink and stain remover residue from the previous step. Wipe the cleaner in a circular motion. Flip the cloth over to the clean side and wipe off the excess cleaner.

Pour leather conditioner on another clean cloth in small amounts. Go over the surface of the sofa in circular motions with the cloth, making sure to evenly saturate the entire sofa, including hard-to-reach sections and edges that are more prone to cracking. Apply extra conditioner to very dry spots or cracked areas. Leave on over night. Polish with a clean rag the following day.

Use a leather repair kit that comes with color restoration products. Use leather repair kit to fix rips, burns, holes, scratches, cuts or tears in leather by following instructions for that particular kit. Use the leather fillers and glues, along with sub patches within the kit to make repairs. Make sure to purchase a kit that has specific restoration products for antique sofa leather.

Apply a leather color protection cream after all cleaning, conditioning and repairs have been made. The color protection cream will protect newly restored antique leather on a sofa. Use a leather aroma spray as the last step, to give the sofa back that old leather smell.