It’s such an AMAZING Saturday today. The sun is shinning, we made Joanna Gaines French Toast Recipe and I’ve been DIYing all day outside on our deck & I thought it would be a good day to share my tutorial on how to paint leather.
For so long I’ve wanted to paint our moroccan pouf as I bought it during my ‘pink stage’. I literally had pink in every room of the house and although it is my favourite colour, sometimes too much of a good thing is plain too much.

Today I decided to put my thinking cap on and just do it! Since it is 100% leather, I knew that if I was to paint it, the paint would most likely sink in.
Buuuuut, I didn’t want it to look painted. So here are the measurements & paint I used.
I used a semi gloss paint so it would have durability and look like the original pouf ( if you observe your leather, it has a bit of a sheen to it )
I then put two heaping tablespoons into a container with about 1/2 cup of water and mixed really well. These measurements did one coat on my pouf and I did two coats.
While you’re painting your pouf you want to be sure to apply your paint in all directions so it really gets into the grain.
You will notice that the paint does soak into your leather and it won’t look like paint strokes after a while of drying.
Here’s how the pouf turned out. Honestly, I couldn’t be happier with it. It looks like I bought it white.

Like…..WHATTTTTTTT.
So now how do you make sure your leather item ( in my case pouf ) keeps its amazing colour and doesn’t get marked up by food/water/feet?
I applied a thin coat of clear wax to my piece.
Now you don’t have to do this step at all if it is a piece that is more for looks. But since this stool is used for feet, I knnnnew that it would soon turn grey as our kids are constantly running outside barefoot
Here’s a good wax that I’ve used a few years.


and lastly, to answer a few questions I know will be asked:
Does it feel like it has been painted?
No, it honestly feel like it was the genuine piece. I think by watering down the paint and having the paint not a flat paint helps make it feel pretty authentic and soft.
How long did it take to dry?
It took about thirty minutes for each coat to dry, but I was doing it on our deck in warm-ish weather. *Keep in mind, that prior to bringing it in, you need to double check that the bottom if fully dry* I know this is self explanatory but I’ve been eager to bring something in and had it get paint or stain on my floor/carpet
Exactly what kind of paint did you use?
I used paint from Sherwin Williams called “High Reflective White” and the finish is “Interior – Quali-Kote – Semi-Gloss“

I hope you enjoyed this super fun and easy tutorial on how to paint leather. Let me know if you have any additional questions and what you think!

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This is beautiful! I love all of your stuff! I have been stalking your stuff because I’m so inspired! Lol . I have a peeling hole on my black fake leather couch. Do you think this paint could work to patch it up?
Awe! Thank you so much!!! I would totally do a full coverage, so don’t water the paint down. Make sure it’s semi gloss or glossy to match your sofa
I love this! I desperately want to paint my couch a cream colour. It’s not a real leather though, do you think this method would work the same?
Hmmm. I don’t know. For this project it worked really well as the watered down paint sank into the leather. You could try adding less water in. I would try on the back of the sofa or under a cushion first to see how it works out!
Hi Jessica!
Really enjoy followng you on IG and especially your DIY’s! I have a similar pouf which is light brown and thinking about painting it off white/creme to better fit my decor…Can you detail the wax product you used cuz the link you provided leads to a general page…
Thanks
Isabelle
Ours is still holding up so well! The wax I used is from Magnolia Home. The clear wax