To my dismay, I realised that actually, not only do a lot of people have this problem, but there really is not a way to absolutely get rid of this smell for good. But the good news is that you can remove it, but you may have to repeat the process from time to time. Obviously after a few years of wear and tear, other smells will permeate it, and by then you will either be used to it, or thankfully it will only pong a bit. All depending on the depth or type of leather. So below I have listed the best and most effective way to minimalise the odor, and hopefully get it to a state of neutrality where you will be able to forget about it for good, or at least for a long while. 1. The first and best idea, is to use a good saddle soap. It is not very expensive, and is made just for cleaning leather. Most hardware stores or specialised leather shops will be able to sell this to you, and always make sure after you have cleaned it, that you put back the oils in the sofa, to stop the leather from drying and cracking.
Linseed or lanolin oil are good leather conditioning products to keep the leather supple.This is an odor absorber, that comes from volcanic ash, it is a natural mineral and can be recharged by putting them back out in the sun. It works for years. Place it in the mesh bag that comes with it, under your cushions or even inside the sofa. 3. A solution of washing up liquid in water, and a cloth rung sparingly, don't soak it, can have a good effect, as it removes the obvious smell, and can soak into the leather. Make sure you use hot water, or at least warm, so that it will evaporate quicker, and not soak the couch too much. You don't want a ruined soggy mess to contend with! If it gets too wet it will smell more like a soggy animal caught in the rain! 4. Old newspapers or any sort of packing paper, is a great idea to get rid of the smell. The reason for this is that the paper is more porous than leather, so what happens is the fibres of the paper act as a wick that lifts the odors from the leather.
Don't use paper that you would get in a notebook or feels harder, because newspaper is much more porous so will work quicker. 5. This one may be obvious, but try to get as much air to the product as possible. If it is practical, try and move the couch to a room where you can constantly open a window or door for a few days. A shed or a garage would be best because it is well ventilated, but not to damp. 6.Soak the leather in a solution of distilled white vinegar. Obviously this will cause it to smell of vinegar slightly when it is dry, so after giving it a good rub down, let it dry, and then wash the couch again with the washing up solution, then make sure you give it a good conditioning. You do not want a moldy, vinegar smelling settee, that eventually shrivels up and looks a mess. 7. Mix a solution of Ammonia and and water, and soak the leather in it. This may seem odd, as leather is cleaned in ammonia in the first place, whilst being made. But if your leather smells badly of skunk, then the bad smell has obviously over taken the ammonia.
This will counteract the bad animal smell. Then clean with washing up liquid and warm water, then conditioner. 8.Baking soda has many uses, but the main use for leather is that it will soak up the smell, very quickly and efficiently. Place a liberal amount of baking soda inside a cushion case or pillowcase, and place it across and around the leather, covering as much as you can. This works best for small leather items, but can be a quick solution for a couch if you don't have time to clean it properly for a few days. 9. Charcoal is another good thing to use to soak up the bad odor. Do the same with this as you did with the baking soda. 10. There is a new product, link below, that is called The Amazing Environmental Air Sponge, that eliminates Odors and Smells. This product is said to dissolve in the air, releasing microscopic molecules that interact and eliminate odors and pollutant molecules as well as being good for dust control. check out the link. So there we have it.
I hope this helps to get rid of that horrible smell, and in my case I will definitely be trying out these options, so that the settee can be used as it is meant to be. Smell free, and usable. Skip to accessibility help £0 - £20 (21) £20 - £50 (58) £50 - £100 (38) The North Face (1) Show in stock items onlyHigh in the sky, slap-bang in the centre of Oxford Circus, is a rather spectacular garden. Formerly a concrete wasteland, the rooftop of John Lewis is now a flowery, free-to-enter oasis with a kitchen garden, herbarium, a pop-up restaurant, botanical cocktail bar, planting and propagating workshops, benches and arbours for relaxing and even early morning yoga classes on the lawn. What sets this space apart — all 600 square yards of it — is the wealth of detail that makes the difference between a prescriptive corporate venture and a characterful, real-life garden with any amount of take-home ideas and inspiration. For instance, just beyond the ramped entrance that teasingly veils the garden from visitors with a row of native silver birches, is a building that started life as a small, plain shed.
Given a lick of Celestial Blue Little Greene paint and a beautifully tricked-out interior, it’s now a des-res den that would be an asset to any urban garden. In front of the garden shop, and typical of the imaginative container planting throughout the plot, hydrangea blooms billow from a pair of old grey chimneypots, like clouds of pink smoke. The plan, the planting and the detail, right down to the den’s vintage books and weathered barometer, are down to Vauxhall-based garden designer Tony Woods and his 10-strong Garden Club London team that specialises in urban roof gardens. “I’m finding that Londoners are trying to get away from that minimalist look because they’re realising that once you strip everything out of a garden, it doesn’t look bigger, but just feels characterless,” says Woods. “So this garden has a lot of atmosphere and different areas that each have a different feeling.” The thriving kitchen garden has raised beds fronted with handsome hazel hurdles, and holds wigwams of runner beans, purple podded peas, tomatoes and artichokes as well as edible flowers for the restaurant’s salads and cocktails: cornflowers, borage, marigolds.
John Lewis’s Longstock Nurseries, on the Partnership’s Leckford Estate, supplied many of the young plants, and more can be bought from the on-site shop. An urban meadow has swathes of Achillea Terracotta, catmint, valerian and swishy deschampsia grass, while a “dead” corner that visitors can’t access is a wildlife-friendly patch of marguerites, lychnis, cornflowers and ladybird poppies, all constantly worked by bees and hoverflies. The landscaping is practical and effective: 6ft-high hedging windbreaks of glossy Portuguese laurel, brought in as one-metre blocks; artificial Easigrass lawn that withstands a heavy footfall and just needs mechanical brushing every three weeks; decking and boundary wall of no-maintenance resin timber in simulated oak. The garden is designed to be educational, too. The herbarium — a bank of herbs against the wall overlooking Oxford Street — has labels identifying each one that visitors can pick and toss into their botanical cocktails: lemon balm, chocolate mint, tarragon, and blackcurrant sage which, says Woods, tastes just like Ribena.
Herbs feature heavily in this garden because, he believes, they make ideal plants for London gardens. His favourites are prostrate rosemary, here tumbling charmingly over the edges of reclaimed timber planters, and green sage, which Woods often uses as foliage in planting schemes. “They’re great value, they deal with neglect pretty well and can be resuscitated. It’s important to keep using them and clipping them or they’ll get leggy.” Shrubby thyme grows from the mouth of a metal milk churn and textural tapestries of thymes, garlic chives, oregano and dwarf lavender, along with Mexican daisy and trails of wild strawberries, froth around the bases of mature olive, apple and pear trees, obscuring every inch of compost. Hessian sacking makes a handsome mulch for the silver birch trees and keeps the sun off the roots. Aside from using small “bulletproof” succulents as decoration, such as pots on every rung of a double ladder, he favours large planters, because, he says, they have much more impact than several small pots.