How to Restore Leather Seats

I have 6 beautiful chairs that go with my dining room suite.  Over the years they have seen some wear and were in wonderful shape until….well…cats!  We only use this large table for holiday celebrations.  So I don’t see the seats regularly.  It’s always a surprise when I pull out the chairs in preparation for a holiday meal and there are more scratches. Here is one of the chairs.

I’ve done some research and thought I would try a few suggestions on how to restore damaged leather seats.  

I started with Chair 1 and a product that I had on hand:  Neatsfoot oil. 

I’m not really sure when I bought it or for what project.  But it was on hand so I started with this.  

Here is one coat:

Here is two coats:

And here is three coats:

Apparently the leather really needed to be moisturized.  I never treated it at all.  Lesson learned!

                                                                               
 

I am pleased with this but will be trying several other methods as well.  Next up will be saddle soap.  I have 5 more chairs and 5 more methods to test!