New Leather uses in home decor: Leather finds new uses in home decor

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