French Chair Part 2

It has been so long since I have posted. Can't figure out where the time has gone. But have had two grandsons and visited one since my last post. Now off to visit the second one. I have been working hard on this chair. It has not been an easy piece. I really thought it would just take me a just a few days and would be finished. The painting was the easy part. I bought it at a yardsale and the person I bought it from had taken all the fabric off to redo it herself and then didn't. So I did not have any way of knowing how to put it together again. So a word to the wise, always save the fabric when you take a chair apart and take notes on how it was put together to save yourself all the stress.

Just to refresh your memory, this is what it looked like before:

Some of you said you thought I should remove the old seat and stuffing and replace it. So glad I took your advice. Under this nasty thing I found,

This nasty thing. Some kind of grass or straw. And full of dust and who knows what else. 

 On top of this layer was some really nasty cotton batting, that grey stuff, which was also full of dust. 

And under it all was this nasty looking burlap with the springs poking through.

Into the trash with it all and on with some new foam and batting.

I used 2" foam and cut it out with a serrated knife, a bit larger than I thought I would need. Just in case I got it a bit small so I did have to do a bit of trimming, but that is always better to have it a little too big than too small.

I then added quilt batting over the foam to give it a bit more softness and to protect the foam.

Tacked that down with a few staples. 

Then on to the fabric. I got this great fabric at JoAnn's at 50% off with another 10% total purchase coupon. So it didn't cost too much. 

So far the hardest part has been figuring out how to put the back on. I have gotten this far and will post the finished product very soon, I promise. The biggest obstacle I am running into with this chair is the fact that the wood is very old and very brittle. I have broken a few chips out of the back stapling the fabric on. There isn't much space and with all the staples it is a real problem. I am hoping to figure out how to finish it off without breaking it further. So if any of you have any great suggestions I would love to hear them. I have checked out numerous websites such as MMS and feel I am heading in the right direction.