My two year old son just drew me a beautiful picture using a ball point pen. Unfortunately he used my leather sofa as his canvas. Any solutions for safely cleaning my sofa without ruining the leather and its color?
Julie from Arizona
Brilliant. One of my sons (not sure which one) scribbled on my leather sofa. Used the hairspray on a cloth as suggested and the pen marks came off without damaging the sofa. Thank you so much. (11/05/2007)
By Andrea
Didn't work for me. Faded the pen mark and the color of the leather. (11/12/2007)
By D. Walls
Thanks for the perfume tip. My 2 year old nephew drew three lines down my new cream leather sofa. I tried wiping them off with soap and water and they didn't budge. I then left it a week as I didn't have time to try again. Just sprayed my J'Adore Dior over it and the I could see it coming away. Wiped over it a few times and the lines have mostly lifted. I can still see them very very faintly, but I'm sure no one else will notice. Thanks again for the tip. (01/02/2008)
By Jen
The hairspay tip is fantastic on cream sofas. I would strongly recommend it, but don't rub in one place for too long (amazing, brilliant). (01/04/2008)
By Nicky H.
You can try to buy the repair kits from where you bought the sofa. (01/04/2008)
By Emma
Remember that it is very important to test in a inconspicuous place since some leathers are painted instead of dyed. We found out the hard way on a sofa set we bought (while living in another country) as opposed to other fine leathers we own that were also marked with ink. (01/23/2008)
By Lori
No one will ever believe this but just normal hairspray works. Spray about 5 inches away from leather and wipe straight away with a damp cloth. Hey presto. Please try this. It really does work. (02/07/2008)
By Tanya
Do not use Mr. Clean, alcohol only. (02/23/2008)
By twiga
There is an ink remover stick on the market, which might be a handy thing to have on hand. Check with stores that sell leather furniture. Many come in the standard leather cleaning kits available there. (02/26/2008)
Thanks for the useful info. As suggested, I used perfume on a stain that I just found on a wallet, but I don't know how long it was there. It didn't take it all out, but it is certainly much, much better. I was hesitant to rub too hard, so that may be why. I bought the wallet in Italy and the saleslady told me to to clean it with face cleansing milk, which I lightly rubbed on after the perfume, and it gave back the sheen to the leather. (03/04/2008)
By Donna
The perfume trick worked for me. But make sure you buy those leather cleaner oil wipes asap to use after the perfume. (03/10/2008)
By Candy
Baby wipes with moisturizer works well. (03/30/2008)
By Adam
Tried the hairspray, did not work at all. Tried perfume, on my cream sofa, now it has pen marks, and yellow stains from the perfume. Beware! (05/19/2008)
By John B
Thanks for the hairspray advice. I just ruined my expensive dark brown sofa trying to remove blue pen stains out of it and it looks 10 times worse. The color of sofa came out as well. Don't use hairspray!
Editor's Note: As with any cleaning advice you get on ThriftyFun, test it in an inconspicuous spot first. (06/02/2008)
By Deanna
I think that hairspray is only good on some types of leather. That's why it left a stain on my cream leather sofa, but not my chocolate leather sofa. (06/02/2008)
By Steph
I just used Magic Eraser on my off-white leather sofa where my daughter made a small scribble in black ball point pen 12 hours ago and it worked wonderfully. (07/06/2008)
By Jessie
People, don't use perfume, it works but makes your sofa discolored. Use Tea Tree oil, it is a natural compound and works much better and doesn't change the color. (08/01/2008)
By Sara
I just tried perfume on my mother-in-law's red leather sofa. It worked. But noticed that perfume cannot be left on the leather for too long, or the leather will be damaged. Use with extra care, but it worked. (08/01/2008)
By Chung
I have never tried the perfume technique. I always use an electric eraser. The Mars white plastic erasers will work as well but are more work and less precise. The eraser will lighten the leather if used aggressively, but once the stain is removed you can touch up the spot with leather conditioner which will darken it a bit. (08/11/2008)
By Michael
Found this site after I sat in my car with a pen in my back pocket and managed to draw all over the grey leather seat. Tried the perfume thing, it works but here are few things that I learned along the way. Spray the perfume onto an ear bud then hold it against the mark, the pen soaks up into the bud without having to rub. Alternate between lots of buds, cleaning a small track at a time, not the entire area. Have soapy water on standby and clean the area you have just treated immediately to stop the effects of the perfume. If you don't clean it off immediately it will mark the leather. Try not to rub hard or you will damage the leather.
It will not be perfect but it will be 99% better than it was.
(08/15/2008)
By Steve
Just used Tea Tree Oil to remove ballpoint ink from a red leather wallet. Worked perfectly and didn't lift any of the color. (09/20/2008)
By Sally L.
Tea Tree did the trick. Sounds like any alcohol based substance will do. Perfume, Nail Polish remover, etc. Tea Tree oil worked for me. (09/26/2008)
By Billy Bob Joe Beth Taylor Jackson
Thanks folks, my we niece drew on my mums new white leather sofa with a ball point pen. Thanks to these reviews, I've removed it with aftershave, followed by a wet wipe, so's not to leave the alcohol on the leather, then dried all excess fluids with kitchen roll. It's back to new, Thanks again. (10/04/2008)
By Roy
Thanks for the tips perfume worked great on cream leather sofa. Don't use nail polish remover. It's too strong for cream sofa. (10/09/2008)
By Trent
My 2 year old just marked up our tan leather sofa. I immediately tried wiping it off with Pledge. That did take a good part of the pen off but not all. I looked on this site and tried perfume on a small area and noticed it discoloring my sofa so I stopped. I ended up using a bar soap called fels napa with water on a rag you can purchase it at Walmart. I use it for all my kids stains on their clothes came out with a little bit of rubbing and left the couch looking untouched. Thank God. (12/02/2008)
I was doing homework sitting on my parents $3000 leather couch that they are very attached to and accidentally got a ballpoint pen mark on it while my mom was sitting on the other end. I quickly covered it with my text book and thought the end of the world had come. Thanks so much for all these responses they saved my life I swear, I told my mom with tears coming into my eyes I was so upset and she laughed at me. Thought of how you get pen mark off your skin and decided to first try spit shining it, which sounds gross, but I just wet my finger with my tongue and rubbed the little mark away and it worked perfectly. (12/08/2008)
By Kat
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