Taking care of your leather furniture

Leather upholstery is a thing of beauty, and it's supposed to be pretty durable, too. But even leather may need a little help every now and then. Here are some things you can do to keep your leather in good shape.

The first place to turn for direction is the manufacturer. It should be able to supply you with general guidelines for cleaning.

• You can vacuum your furniture with a soft brush attachment.

• You can wash the surface with a little mild dishwashing liquid mixed with some warm water and a soft cloth.

• Ink stains can be removed with a small amount of rubbing alcohol and a soft cloth.

• Heavy stains might respond to lemon juice and cream of tartar. Follow with mild soap and warm water.

• Grease probably is the hardest thing to clean from leather. For that, I like to mix half household vinegar and half olive oil and try to gently clean off the oil stains.

• As a reminder, leather can age poorly if taking in direct sunlight every day or with a heater vent blowing on it daily. Try to cover windows with drapes, move furniture or redirect vents.

• Never use cleaners or conditioners that are not recommended for leather upholstery. Car seats and automobile dashboards are not the same as a leather sofa, so don't be tempted to use a car cleaner on your couch! If you do want to use a protector or conditioner, shop for one at a leather sofa dealer.

An old fridge

An old refrigerator may seem like a pile of junk and, well, maybe it is. But it also can become a wonderful storage place for power tools. You also can put a lock on the door to keep thieves out. In the olden days, refrigerators closed with a latch, and you had to have a lock on any refrigerator that wasn't in your home, or remove the door completely. Thank goodness for magnetic latches! But we still need to keep people out of it if we are storing valuable tools inside, so a plain hasp lock will do. Then you'll have a small safe in your garage or workshop.

Jars of hardware

I love to store hardware in jars. I guess I've just done that all my life, and it feels comfortable to me. I also like the way you can set them all on a shelf and easily spot just what you are looking for when you need it. I like to attach the lids to the bottoms of shelves, especially the small ones you can place between wall studs in the garage. This makes it so easy to see what you have, and it takes up no space at all since the shelf is on the wall and out of the way. Just drill a hole through the jar lid and attach it to the bottom of the shelf with a screw.

Super hints

• Many times you can contact paint dealers with the name of your home and the year it was built, and get an exact match on your paint. It's a great way to take care of touch-ups without having to match the paint or repaint the whole house.

• I don't normally use neon or Day-Glo paint, but when I do, I want everyone to see it! I paint some on all of my garden tools. My rakes, hoes, shovels, etc., all have a bit on the handle or the blade. This reminds the people who borrow them to return them to me … well, hopefully.

• The old saying "They don't make things like they used to" can mean a lot of different things. In renovating, it means you need to think before you act. Before the dangers were known, people used paint with lead in it, or siding, flooring and ceiling texture with asbestos in them. Check with local government offices or the Environmental Protection Agency for safe removal guidelines.

Q. I am getting ready to wallpaper my dining room and have a dilemma. There is an arched doorway where you enter the room. I think I want to wallpaper this archway, too. How do I do the arch?

A. Place the edge of the wallpaper against the front edge of the doorway and paper around the arch. Then trim it off on the inside. If the edges of the opening are rounded, then you need to place the front edge on an imaginary edge and paper around the back rounded end. Then, wallpaper the dining room wall down to this rounded edge and trim both so they butt together.

Q. We put solar film on our patio doors a few years ago. It's starting to look bad. I would like to remove it and maybe put on some more. How do you get it off?

A. Try spraying it with denatured alcohol and see if that doesn't loosen it up. Go at it with a plastic putty knife. If you go to your hardware store and look at the solar film, you will find it has a remover that will work. Just make sure you have the door completely clean before applying the new film. Good luck!

Q. My freezer is sweating a lot around the door and it's starting to frost over on some of the foods, not to mention dripping on the floor. What is going wrong, and how can I fix it?

A. The first thing I think of is the door gasket. Clean the door where the gasket sits and clean the gasket, too. Use bleach if there's mold present. Then, rub it down with a thin layer of petroleum jelly for the best seal. If, after cleaning and lubricating, you still have the problem, try the "dollar trick" to check the seal. Close a dollar bill halfway in the door and half outside the door. If you can pull it out without opening the door, the seal isn't good. Look for gaps at the edges and see if you can loosen the screws holding the gasket in place to reposition it for a better fit, then tighten them back into place. If the gasket is damaged, you can buy a new one and replace it.

Reader tips

• I am finished with my first caulking job. I would say it's not pretty, but it really is! I put strips of masking tape along the caulking lines, on either side. Then I pulled them off, along with the slops and messy edges, and it looks so great. I swear, it looks like I hired someone to do it. I hope it lasts as long as the old stuff did. If all caulking is this easy, I might try it again on some other areas in the house.

• Here's a great trick I learned when painting my wall trim. I have a wood floor, so I masked along the floor to make sure the paint didn't get on it. Before I started, I used the back of a spoon to press the edge of the masking tape down, firmly, to the floor. This sealed the edge of the tape to prevent bleeding of the paint through it. It worked and I didn't have any areas with bleed-through to clean up.

• I wanted to make a real statement with my house address numbers. I found a font that I liked and printed up a number on each page, then cut them out to use as a stencil. They are almost 10 inches tall! I used the "stencils" to paint these numbers on my front walkway. It looks so great, and everybody loves them!

• While watching the big game last weekend, my brother dropped some greasy meat on my floor. I thought we got it up, but there was still a grease spot on the carpet the next day. I covered it with a box of baking soda poured on top of it. I left it because I was busy. My husband vacuumed it up last night, and now it's gone. It removed all the grease with virtually no hassle.

• I wanted to organize my kitchen drawers, but was totally shocked when I started looking at plastic organizers; they cost a bundle. So I made my own. Every time I found a good box bottom, I cut it to fit the drawer and covered it with some colored paper glued in place. I have a lot of them now, and they fill up most of my drawers and keep everything neatly organized. It was easy and cheap, and way more satisfactory!

Shoptalk

• If you are trying to be "green" - and who isn't these days? - you might be considering starting a compost pile. This is so easy to do and, once you know the basics, you can have a steady supply of free plant food and mulch for your yard year-round. It doesn't cost much and is a great way to get rid of vegetable waste from your home, as well as many other items destined for the garbage can. Learn how to build and manage your own compost pile with our instructions at www.thesuperhandyman.com, so come on by and check us out!

• An oscillating tool can be used for a wide variety of projects, like trimming wood, PVC pipe and even metal, and can be used to grind out grout, caulk and glue - not to mention sanding and polishing. Rockwell has a super 20-volt rechargeable oscillating tool in its Sonicrafter line. Because it's cordless, you can use it anywhere, and the battery holds a charge for a long time. Plus, Rockwell provides its free Batteries for Life program once the tool is registered. The Universal Fit allows you to use other brands' accessories. It even has a nifty LED light on board to help you work in hard-to-see spots. To find out more, go to www.rockwelltools.com.

• When we find a super way to store things in a crowded garage, we're all ears. The Lumb-R-Grip Hanger Hook is so great. There are no moving parts to it. One side grabs any horizontal exposed wood, like a ceiling joist or rafter, and the other end is a plastic coated steel hook, strong enough to hold up to 200 pounds. You can hang up a bike, ladder or fertilizer spreader in seconds. There's virtually no installation involved. You can find them at The Container Store, and a package of two will cost you only $7.99.

• Write to Kelly Carrell in care of the Daily Herald, P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL 60006 or visit online at thesuperhandyman.com.

© 2015, Cowles Syndicate Inc.