Ok, here is the story:

I wanted a leather couch to love, my hubby and I didn't want to pay top dollar for new. We set out to find a lovely leather sofa on CL. After about a month of searching, we purchased a Flexsteel sofa made in 2000, that needed some TLC, but was in OK shape, for $200 ($100 for couch + $100 gas/etc.). It was light tan, and the cushions were very stained. Picture #1 shows the worst cushion.

Picture #1
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After cleaning with numerous different types of homemade cleaning solutions, as well as store-bought products, we made a little bit of progress. My preferred form of cleaning is first "hydrating" (I used a hydrating cream from leatherworldtech.com) the cushion to get it nice a squishy. Once "hydrated" and still damp, I washed the cushion down with an acidic solution (I made one with water and white vinegar) and let it soak in a bit. Then I used a teaspoon to gently scrape out the grossness that accumulated within the cushion. What came out was the hydrating cream plus dirt and oil. It basically looked like a gray paste. I repeated this "hydrating"/scraping process until the paste I got out of the cushion was white!

The cushions still had dark staining. See Picture #2.

Picture #2
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This is about the time I found this website! I read about staking leather to lighten the color and make it more supple. So, I used the end of a bobby-pin to do micro-stretching. (You can see the area on the right panel in the cushion in Picture #2 that had been stretched, but not re-hydrated.) My hubby and I stretched the dickens out of these, but still the darkness was still there. See Picture #3.

Picture #3
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After doing the best we could with every cushion, and not wanting to spend any more money on this project (by this time we had spent another $150 in cleaning products), we decided to just dye the couch darker without fully removing all the staining. Pictures #4 & #5 show the sofa to the point before we dyed it.

Picture #4
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Picture #5
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Since I can only attach 5 pictures per post, I will continue with another post!