Cleaning leather sofas

[threeislovely]

So, I just managed to get a sofa from a facebook selling site. It's lovely, really comfy and fits the space just right.... But it's pretty dirty!

There are a few stains on it (blue-ish), which I am not sure I can get out. But the rest just looks like dirt in the creases of the leather. So, I am now after your top tips for cleaning the leather - I have googled and found massive contradictions, so am turning to the bible that is MN ;)

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

I use a cream cleaner I got from a furniture shop. Don't be tempted to use polish spray or wet wipes!

[threeislovely]

Thanks - went to the shop and bought some leather cleaner. Have been going over it for 2 hours and it now looks much, much better. Still 3/ 4 stains and a couple of scratches, but nothing awful. Thanks for the advice.

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

Glad it's helping

[starving]

Ink is almost impossible to come out. When I got my suite I got a leather care kit with at and in it was an ink stain remover. It looks a bit like a pritt stick. Haven't had to use it yet so cannot comment on its usefulness.

[threeislovely]

Found a furniture repair kit on Amazon so have ordered it to see how it works...

Beauty of this is that because the sofa cost less than I have sold a lot of stuff for I am seeing it as a free sofa. It's perfectly functional, so at the worst case, I will put a throw over it. The kids seem quite happy lounging on it and I am not panicking about the new kittens running all over it!

In the meantime, I am learning how to clean sofas in case I ever mess up my nice, expensive one

[101Handyrepair]

Its never a good idea to start rubbing to hard with modern leather sofas because the leather is only coated and you will eventually just rub the colour off, the standard cleaning methods on todays sofas is just a damp cloth, or with some lux flakes, any thing else will put you at risk of voiding any warrenty, most of the cleaning kits out there on the market are a waste of money, a damp cloth when required and nothing more than a thorough clean (if required) twice a year

[wheresmyphone]

Stain Devils : think they still make them do a specialist "pen off leather" one. Try Lakeland or hardware....think John Lewis may do Stain Devils too.

[AuntieMay]

Just for general cleaning - I have used baby wipes on my leather sofas for the last 13 years and we get comments on how good they look all the time. I do have a leather cleaner but rarely use it, I find the baby wipes work really well and haven't caused any issues at all with the leather.

[smurfy2015]

Apologies for reopening this thread as its several weeks old, I have rescued 2 cream leather sofas in the past so would recommend

To buff the stain off i have used with success Lord Sheraton leather balsam, by leaving it on for a minute or 2 and then buffing off, it took a while to do

Someone up thread mentioned a teaspoon of lux flakes made up with a bit of water and leave with a fine paste for a few mins and buff off and keep repeating until stain is gone

When sofa is at its former glory, i would recommend putting a date on your calendar every week to feed the leather, it will bring it up like new and make it look fab for longer.

You can get bottles of clean and feeder quite reasonable, I highly recommend the astonish one which i come across in Poundland. Its a spray bottle and clear IIRC
if cant get it after a bit of checking around online i see poundstretcher has a version from stardrops but i cant say i have personally tried it

Hope some of this helps