Before & After: A Painted Leather Sofa Surprise

published Aug 3, 2016

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Dark brown leather sofa with metal legs on a wooden floor, labeled "Before" on the left. — (Image credit: Katie Steuernagle)

I’ve been on the hunt for an affordable brown leather sofa for a while now, and had just about given up when this one turned up on Craigslist. It wasn’t the color I wanted. I was hoping for something a little less Manhattan and a little more Marfa, but for 50 bucks, I figured I could experiment with changing the color. Can you paint a leather sofa?

(Image credit: Katie Steuernagle)

I did! And I’m in love with the results. Let’s take a closer look…

(Image credit: Katie Steuernagle)

And another close up.

(Image credit: Katie Steuernagle)

I used three bottles of Angelus leather paint in tan (about $4.50 each) and a finish coat of Angelus Acrylic High Gloss Leather Finisher. To get this look, I dabbed the paint onto the sofa with a big sponge, and it took three coats to get the coverage I wanted. I really love that the black shows through a little bit, so it looks weathered, and so far it’s holding up perfectly.

For more about this project:

→ DIY Project Test Lab Results: We Painted a Leather Sofa and Here’s What Happened

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