Yes, You Can Paint the Leather Vintage Tables
Yes, You Can Paint Leather Furniture
Have you ever wondered if you could paint leather furniture? You know those vintage tables with leather tops? Do you remove the leather, remove the tops, replace the leather, or actually paint leather? The answer is yes! Next, you may ask what paint for leather furniture is best. Well, you may be surprised at the answer!
Materials Needed:
Staging / Home Decor
The Before – Unfinished Vintage Leather Top Tables
My customer brought me her vintage drop side leather top tables for a makeover. The leather inlay on these table tops are worn and cracked which made them look old and tired. Lord knows I know that feeling!
Here is a close-up look at the condition of the leather inlay. Luckily the cracks aren’t as deep as they appear.
Steps to Paint Leather Furniture
Now you may be wondering how to paint on leather. With a little prepping, cleaning and frog tape we will be on our way. The leather is prepped the same way that I prep any surface, by lightly sanding then cleaning and letting it dry. Click here for a more detailed tutorial on How to Prep Painted Furniture. I make sure to tape the wood around the leather very carefully to ensure that I don’t get any paint on the wood. The area is then painted in pure black chalk type paint. You can find great paint options online HERE 
Next, you need to make sure to seal your painted surface. When painting furniture with black paint I prefer to seal with a black tinted sealer. The leather table tops are sealed for protection using a black tinted protective sealer.
The Result – Painted Leather Top Tables
Here is your answer – Yes, you can paint leather furniture! And by doing so these tables look amazing. 
Painting the leather inlay centers is just what these tables need for a fresh new look! 
I’m so glad that my customer chose to leave the wood natural, I think it gives these tables a great look while maintaining their charm. 
Still unsure about painting the leather on your furniture? This leather top desk was revived with a stain rather than paint! Click the link for the full tutorial including a video: Save the Leather Top on Vintage Desk 
or this one: 
These are the other furniture pieces that were brought for an update along with the leather top vintage tables.
Classic Distressed Black Painted Chest
The small chest of drawers and side table are both painted pure black and then distressed to perfection. To maintain the natural patina, the original hardware is left in its existing condition.
After.
New to painting furniture and not sure where to start? Start at the beginning with How to Paint Furniture – a Beginners Guide.
Distressed black has to be one of my all-time favorite finishes!
After.
Love black painted furniture? Check out the Best Collection of Black Painted Furniture 
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Love the look of all of them. What type of paint did you use on the leather and did it just fill in the cracks or what? They look great.
Love the tables and love that little black dresser! I’m not a huge fan of distressing furniture…but what I realized when I saw the black pieces, was that I’m not a huge fan of white distressed furniture…in black it’s really a nice look! 🙂 Thanks for the tips on leather and on the black furniture. I love the decision to leave the wood as is, it’s gorgeous. I might suggest applying something like Restor-a-Finish, if you have any handy. But I don’t think it’s really critical to those pieces. NIce job! 🙂 –Kat
thanks so much! Black distressed has to be my all time favorite! I have tried howards restore a finish before – that stuff is great! 🙂
the tables are beautiful. I was wondering if decoupage would work over leather Inlays?
Thank you,
Monica
To be completely honest… Ive never tried but would love to know the answer as well. I have added faux leather fabric over a leather inlay but in addition to the adhesive I also added nail head studs along the edges (so if for some crazy reason the adhesive didnt keep the studs were extra enforcement (I hope that makes sense))
Great tutorial Kandice, pinning for sure!
Leather is usually attached with wallpaper paste on tables like these, so is relatively easy to pull out and replace. Most fabric stores sell leather you can cut to size. If you want gold embossing, a craftsman like Heath at [email protected] does beautiful work at a great price (about $150 per table. I’m not affiliated)
I mention this because I recently tried painting leather inserts on my tables very similar to these after pricing embossed leather ($250-400 ea.pc.). The paint didn’t work – I could still see cracking through the paint. Anywhere I sanded left a frayed area. So ultimately I replaced the leather. Wallpaper paste makes it easy.
I like your choice of black – it really updates these cuties!
I’m all in with nitpicker up there. I don’t doubt that your process went as smoothly as you say it was, nor that his leather presented unexpected difficulties. I’d feel a whole lot better if these were your own tables, and that you still lived, for a year or five, with the results of this experiment. There is not a single leather ‘expert’ on the planet (self-proclaimed or credentialed, either one) who would endorse what you recommend here. For myself, I want to believe you so bad I can taste it, but I just can’t. Unlessss… UNLESS you can get a ‘later’ pic, that’d be awesome and save me from exposure to those strong yet mysterious leather finishes and other nasty chemicals.
Or, do you have any other tried and true examples of having done this hiding up your sleeve?
I do think your work on those tables looked really good, I must say.
Birdyjane! I love the feedback and I actually just emailed you with more info! 🙂
I don’t like using chalk paint. Would milk paint work for painting the leather?
Since milk paint is rather ‘chippy’ Im not sure I would trust it for painting leather to be honest. But then again, it can’t hurt to try 😉