How to Restore a Leather Top Desk

When a friend asked if I could restore his office desk, I hesitated. Most of my DIY projects use recycled or rescued furniture, where mistakes are part of the charm. But this time, I had to work with someone else’s professional piece—and that meant getting it right. In this post, How to Restore a Leather Top Desk, I’ll show you the challenges I faced and the solutions I used to breathe life back into this tired piece.

Please note: I’m entirely self-taught and don’t claim this is the professional way to restore furniture. I’m simply sharing what worked for me, what I learned along the way, and the results I got. Hopefully, it inspires you to try your own DIY projects—mistakes and all! This project includes a mix of veneer, MDF, stained wood, and even leather. If you’re looking to repair damaged MDF, clean leather desk inlays, or stain a desk professionally, this guide has all the answers.

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How to Restore a Leather Top Desk

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Materials Needed

• Sandpaper (various grits)
• Orbital sander
• Super fine steel wool
• Citri-Strip paint stripper
• Dark mahogany stain
• Clear varnish or polyurethane
• Dove bath soap
• Soft cloths
• Brown paper
• Double-sided tape
• Painter’s tape

Assessing the Damage

I started with the drawers. A quick sand had me thinking the job would be easy, but I soon realised I was wrong. The desk was mostly veneer, and the base was painted MDF that had swelled from water damage.

I posted a question on Hometalk about how to fix damaged MDF. Most people suggested painting it. But since the desk belonged to a chiropractor, a pretty painted finish wasn’t professional enough.

Repairing the Damaged MDF Base

To fix the MDF, I sanded the blown-out paint back to get a smooth surface. I attempted to stain the MDF, but it soaked up the stain unevenly. After several failed coats, I sealed the MDF with varnish, then applied stain over the top. This finally disguised the damage enough to move forward.

I chose a dark mahogany stain. It helped hide the remaining imperfections and matched other parts of the desk that I didn’t want to risk sanding.

Refinishing the Drawers

Restoring the Drawers and Adding Finishing Touches

The drawers were straightforward to restore. I sanded them back to bare wood, applied a dark mahogany stain, and sealed them with clear varnish. A couple of the original handles were missing, but luckily I had a matching one in my stash. I’m always on the lookout for old furniture that others throw away so I can recycle or repurpose it. If you’re wondering where I find all my free DIY pieces, I explain it all in this post.

Cleaning and Restoring the Leather Inlay

Next, I tackled the leather inlay on the desktop. I cleaned it using Dove bath soap and a soft cloth, gently wiping in circles. I repeated the process several times until the cloth stayed clean. Just be sure not to use too much water—excess moisture can lift or damage the leather.

I’ve had a few people ask where I got the idea to use Dove soap. My thinking was simple: it’s gentle, moisturising, and works on my skin, so why not try it on the leather? The result wasn’t perfect, but it made a noticeable improvement without damaging the surface. While I managed to clean up the leather, the worn paint around the edges was something I didn’t attempt to fix—if it’s even possible. I decided to leave it as-is to preserve the aged character of the desk.

You can also buy genuine leather cleaning products if you prefer a more traditional option, but this budget-friendly method worked well for me.

Stripping and Sanding the Veneer Top

The desktop was another challenge. The veneer was too thin to sand with an orbital sander, and the thick old varnish had cracked. I used Citri-Strip paint stripper and repeated the process three times to get through the old layers.

To protect the leather, I applied double-sided tape around the edges and covered it with brown paper. I also taped off the MDF edges to prevent damage.

Once most of the varnish was stripped, I used my orbital sander to remove the remaining finish.

I stained the top in dark mahogany and applied three coats of varnish, sanding lightly with superfine steel wool between coats for a smooth finish.

I gave the handles a good clean and refitted them onto the drawers. With that, the leather-top desk restoration was complete, ready to head back into the chiropractor’s consulting office.

It may not be perfect, but the transformation brought the desk back to life while keeping its original charm intact.

More restoration projects

Funny enough, I found the office chair that matched this desk sitting just outside the chiropractor’s office—left out with the rubbish, ready to go in the skip bin. I couldn’t resist! I took it home and decided to restore that too. It turned out to be a vintage captain’s chair, and after some TLC, it looked just as good as the desk.

You can see the full makeover of the chair in this post, where I share all the steps I took to bring it back to life.

This antique dresser restoration was my biggest challenge to date, but the results were worth it.
Click here to see how it turned out and what I learned along the way!

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