Mynkibird

Thank you for your reply - and the welcome. Yes, that's the kind of honest response I needed! Surviving the process and looking OK would be my basic requirements. Oh well. I'll have to live with dark I guess and start saving up for a new one... If there are any different opinions from others though, I'd welcome hearing them.

Hi, apologies for hijacking your expertise. I can't find an equivalent site in the UK so I wondered - if I was polite enough?! - if you might share some expert advice for a non-leather-expert? If not, just tell me to get lost, and I'll quietly back away... I have a lovely, old and squishy but very dark chocolate brown leather sofa suite (I guess you'd call them a pair of couches in the US?). I'd really REALLY like something less dark. I've just moved house so can't afford to buy a new suite or to get it professionally recoloured. I am wondering what you would advise if I were to try to do this myself? There are a couple of sample patches attached to the inner labels, so I was thinking I might do some trials with those before tackling the whole thing? I've been searching and googling as much as I can and it looks like it might be possible to do this by - I think? - removing the original coating (with some kind of specialist solvent?) and then using oxalic acid to strip out any original stain? Would this be about right? And if this worked, I guess I'd be left with the original colour-ish - maybe a tan shade? I'd be quite happy with that but I'm worried about whether I could get it even enough or it would maybe go patchy? Any advice and recommendations for do's and DO NOT DO's would be incredibly welcome - thank you in advance!