Love the look of leather? Saddle up.
Leather is finding new uses in home decor beyond upholstery for
couches and chairs or on table tops. Today it's covering walls and floors, and
manufactured materials made from recycled leather are broadening the design
possibilities even further.
Imagine a door covered in faux crocodile, a bathroom vanity with a
cowhide insert or a closet with leather-wrapped shelves.
Leather produces a sophisticated look suitable for contemporary,
rustic or clublike settings, leather flooring is being used in media rooms to
give a feel of richness and intimacy, and some types can be tough enough for a kitchen or a much-used staircase.
leather surfaces for
interiors have become more popular as interest in natural materials has grown.
"Leather is just one more product that goes in that direction to put
nature back in homes," he adds.
Use of genuine leather in home
decorating remains a luxury. But technology is bringing prices down and putting
leather's high-end look within reach of customers with limited budgets. technology
is developing genuine-leather panels that reduce the installation costs of
leather walls and floors. The die-cut panels are applied to a rubber backing
and then affixed to the surface with a releasable adhesive, much like that on
carpet squares, The backing and the precise die
cuts simplify installation, and the low-tack adhesive means you can take the
panels with you if you move.
Design innovations are also being made with new surfacing products
that use recycled or bonded leather, a product manufactured from leather
scraps. Leather remnants are pulverized, and the resulting fibres are mixed
with other materials and pressed into sheets that are colored and textured to
look like genuine leather. A coating protects the surface.
Bonded leather can go wherever wood goes -- even below grade in some
homes, though it is not recommended for wet environments such as bathroom
Torlys, a flooring company in Ontario,
Canada, uses a proprietary protective coating that gives its bonded leather
floors a life span of 25 to 30 years with normal wear, the company's manager of
market development. Torlys' flooring is made from a thin layer of bonded
leather backed by cork and applied to high-density fiberboard. Also it's
comfortable underfoot and not spongy.
With leather flooring which has a 25-year residential warranty, we
easily can put it in kitchens, on staircases and in hotel lobbies and other
high-traffic areas. Maintenance is the same as for a wood floor -- a vacuum
(without a beater bar) to remove dust and a damp mop used with a floor cleaning
product.
But people don't buy it for its wear, honestly,. More often,
consumers fall in love first with the look.
One of his favorite uses for bonded leather is in stitched walls,
custom fitted to a room. Leather panels are cut to fit around doors, switches
and other features, and the panels are top-stitched for a finished look. It
looks like your wall was sewn in place,
also making floor tiles from
genuine leather using the tough leather from the necks of cattle, which will
stand up to foot traffic. The process produces a lot of waste, so it is
expensive
Mahogany colored bonded leather covers a kitchen floor
The living room of this condominium has a recycled leather
Recycled leather embossed in a crocodile design, is used to cover a door
Bonded leather in an oversized crocodile design covers a cellar door.
Bonded leather flooring adds a rich look to this contemporary living room
Top stitching adds richness to a recycled leather wall
