custom home-made leather skin

When I had my XPS M1330 I loved the black leather skin from sgpstore.com.

Now that I have my Asus N81VP-D2, I wanted that same look, but sgpstore.com does not make this skin for it.

So I found this 'Faux Leather Liner' roll made by Con-Tact, for only $4.99 from Home Depot.

This is the end result. It is better than I ever imagined. I'm looking for a chrome Asus logo I can stick on the lid now.






Here`s the stuff I got from Home Depot:

 

Wow, looks great.

Is there any specific way you had to cut the leather to have it sit flush with the curved edge of your lid?

 

Thanks!

I cut a small diagonal into each corner that allowed me to overlap it a bit to make it fit.

It doesn't show that much since it blends mostly into the grain of the 'leather'.

 

thats sweet! do you have a step-by-step of how you did that?

 

Wah! very nice

 

It was easy to do:

- cut out required size from roll of 'faux leather' liner; I used a straight paper cutter to help
- apply from a short end and smooth on with a long ruler to minimize bubbles; material can be removed and re-applied as necessary
- on the corners, cut a small line so that they can be folded over; trim excess off corners

 

Nicely done, very impressive end result. Good solution for the corners.

 

can we get a close up pic of the corners?

 

Here are the corners:

 

Impressive. I can hardly see the cut.

 

That looks great! Gives me ideas

 

Wow, that is extremely nice!

In fact, I like it so well, I'm going to do it to my Toshiba when I get the dual core on exchange for the singe core.

Question - how well does it adhere? Does it feel "loose" or does it stick well to the laptop after it has been applied?

That looks great, and a nice solution to the glossy covers we are all learning to hate Also, could you explain a bit more in detail the cuts you made for the corners? Sorry I'm a little dense, I'm having trouble picturing it in my mind.

 

It sticks pretty well to the lid and is not loose.

When you attempt to apply it smoothly around the curved edges, the corners will have excess material sticking up. You can push/stretch them so that they go down, but I found that they kept popping back up.

Cut into this excess material from the corner inwards, then let them overlap to form a good seal.

Trim any excess off the edges to finish.

The good thing about this is you can experiment. If you end up messing up the first piece, you have a lot more material to play with! I got mine on okay on my first try.

 

They also have a wood-grain patterned material, but I think the corners would come out being more noticeable.

 

That looks so cool, what a neat fix idea! I wonder how it would turn out on one of the curled edge Asus like the new N series? I would love to do that to mine once I get it, but it makes me wary that it would fray or not lay smoothly. Though I guess you could always just redo it!

 

Wow, nice job, dude, and very creative!

 

Thanks guys!

 

Thank you it now makes sense to me . It looks fantasic, Mystery905, and I hope I can turn out a decent job, too

I noticed that on amazon, if you search "faux leather contact paper" you get some hits for copper and stainless steel type finishes. Those would likely look great too, but the leather is a stand out!

 

Looks really good. I'll have to look into this. Repped.

Thanks for the question Rorschach, I was wondering the same.

 

look great, good job

 

Looks really nice!

You (someone) should do a video tutorial.

 

^ LOL @ username

 

I want one in carbon fiber

 

Looks great! I'm curious to see how it holds up to sliding in and out of a backpack/case and just overall. Please keep us informed.

 

wow that's impressive...

 

Has anyone else tried this? I would love to see other people's pictures.

Also, if anyone has found any other interesting material to use for the skin, can they share what they found and where to get it?

 

Very nice ! I was looking to have the leather backcover on my studio xps 16, but an entire leather lid is even stylisher

 

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I too am interested!

Do you think this will cause heating issues if done on the inside, similar to the Asus laptops that are based off cars?

 

Me and contact paper have a history. Its a love/hate relationship.

Its cheap, it works, it looks good, but it can be a major pain to apply sometimes and also it tends to tear if you poke it with something sharp (should not be a big deal with a laptop but say you do what I did and use it to cover your desk...

You can find all kinds of this stuff, the varity is only so-so in my local hardware stores. Online a lot of places have it and ebay is a heaven for it, its cheap there and a good variety.

Not all contact paper is equal, some have a different adhesive, some are thicker and better quality, others are more like just paper. I happen to really like my laptops stealth black color and it has a rubberized lid, so not covering it up.

But if I did.....hmm lol I dunno what I would use.

Maybe a funky wood grain like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/DECORATIVE-WOOD...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item19ba545355

Or most probably a carbon fiber.

 

Is it the color/lid that nice vicious? I can't wait to get my g73! But I was hoping to cover the entire thing, short of vents and buttons, with the faux leather, if only to preserve its glory, while making the skin 'soft' (is the faux leather soft?). My main concern is if it would overheat, or if it is just very impractical in the first place.

 

Minnus, I wouldn't call the faux leather (at least the one I used) soft, but it isn't hard. It feels like vinyl. Perhaps it will soften in time, I don't know.

It doesn't overheat on my machine, but I haven't applied it near any vents or buttons.

 

hmm, any recommendation for soft faux leather? i am not having much success, but then again, i'm not really too sure what to search for.

do you have images of your screen by chance? i would be interested to see how flushed the paper is from the inside.

thanks!

now that my g73 has been delayed, i have more time to do some research! lol

 

wow! i did a search on leather on this forum, and you have two others! cool!

btw - is the contact paper easily removable? like will it leave glue behind say, 3 months later if i decide to change it? sorry for being such a noob! thanks!

 

I only applied the skin to the outer lid.

It is easily removable and leaves no residue.

I did re-inforce the corners with a glue stick which does leave a residue but is easily removed with alcohol.

 

Looks great! nice job.

 

Wonder if Home Depot still sells this stuff. I might get it for my lappy.

 

They did 3 months ago for sure, since that is when I bought and applied it to my own laptop. Looks great!

 

In what aisle is this found in Home Depot?

 

It may vary. I found mine in an aisle close to the wallpaper. It was with draw liners in a vertical storage container.

 

Would you post some pics please?

 

Impressive actually... looks very nice, congrats.

 

I think I might go to Home Depot and get a roll of this stuff to deck out my HP lappy and my NDS Lite, lol. Looks very cool indeed. Also, might use it for my upcoming lappy.

Thanks for the awesome idea!

 

wow very good job! it looks like authentic product made by the company hahaha

 

Can anyone confirm if they still sell this stuff at HomeDepot, or at least point us in the right aisle?

 

They don't sell it online but they have it listed on their website as being sold in HD stores. You could look at it HD's website and then call your local store and give them the Store SKU to see if they have it in stock.

Con-Tact 180 in. x 18 in. Black Faux Leather Drawer/Shelf Liner - 15F-C6BA3-06 at The Home Depot

 

I can confirm this is sold at my local Home Depot. Its located in the liners section.

 

Noy-ssss (NICE)! I shall venture to my local HomeDepot and look for that as well. Is it the same price as the online price?

 

Its around $5 for huge roll and they had other colors too.

 

I wish the Home Depot here wasn't so far away. I'd love to get some of this and wish they did sell it online.