Painted Leather Top Table Makeover
You all know the style. Those vintage tables or desks that have a leather inlay. When I first started refinishing furniture I steered clear of refinishing or painting these because I wasn’t sure what to do with the leather. But about a year in, I had a client reach out with a desk that she wanted painted and the leather inlay needed attention, so I decided it was time to figure it out. And yes, you can paint the leather! Since then I’ve repainted several desks and tables and wanted to share what I’ve learned with my latest leather top table makeover.
How to paint leather tops
So let’s get right to it. Here is a list of supplies you’ll need. It’s a pretty typical list, just be sure you have a good filler that works well for minor cracks and imperfections, more on that later.
supplies Needed
Step 1: Clean
Like any furntiure makeover, the first step is cleaning. I use the same supplies as I do for the wood portion (I talk all about furniture cleaning here). Make sure you use a good degreaser, I find that oils and other dirt and grime tend to soak into the leather, so you want to be sure you remove as much as possible. It is okay to get the leather wet, just be sure to wipe back all of the excess liquid off so it doesn’t take forever to dry.
Step 2: Sand
Once I let the leather dry completely it was time to sand. I scuff-sanded the wood portions of the table as I normally would. I used my sander for the leather to make the surface as smooth as possible. Often the leather has patterns stamped onto it – try to sand those down as much as you can, otherwise, you will see them in your final paint finish. If there are cracks or areas where the leather is damaged, try to sand those as smoothly as possible. While you could hand sand, I find it much harder to get a smooth surface and remove these patterns without some sort of electrical sander.
Step 2: Fill
This step is important and is what will give you the smoothest finish possible! You’ll need a filler that is good at staying in small cracks. I also like to avoid water-based fillers as they can cause the leather to swell. My go-to? Bondo Glazing and Spot Putty. It is the best I’ve found for all of those tiny little imperfections! I cover the entire leather surface with a very thin layer of the spot putty (these spreaders are super helpful for applying). If you apply it too thick, it will crack when it dries (which is no big deal, but you may have to reapply in those spots). Once the spot putty has dried, sand back all of the excess. Repeat as necessary for any spots that aren’t totally smooth.
Step 4: Prime
The next step is priming. My guide to picking the right primer can be found here. You want to use what you are using on the rest of the piece so that your surface for paint is uniform. In this case, I used Melange’s stain-blocking primer in gray. However, because this is a water-based primer, I coated the leather areas with shellac first. I could have just primed the whole piece with shellac, but I wanted to spray my primer on (all the details on those legs) and didn’t want to use a bunch of the spray cans of shellac becuase they are expensive. Keep in mind that the water in water-based products can cause the leather to swell (and I just spent all that time getting the tops super smooth).
Step 5: Paint and Seal
After you have primed it is onto paint. You can paint and seal as you normally would. If you’d like more info on these steps I cover them in these posts about painting furniture and sealing painted furniture. For this project, I chose to use my paint sprayer because of the intricate details of the table, but hand painting would have given me great results as well (it just would have taken me a lot longer).
Summary
So that’s it! While it may seem intimidating to just paint over the leather (I was definitely intimidated my first time doing it), it’s actually an easy process. And I hope this painted leather top table makeover showed you just how easy it can be. The next time you see a piece like this, and even if the leather is damaged, I would love for you to give it a try. As always, I’m happy to answer any questions you may have along the way!
Helpful Reference Articles:
- Repairing Furniture: How to Fix Before Painting
- How to Paint Furniture
- Must-Have Furniture Flipping Supplies
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