Advice Needed: Project Reupholster

Have you ever reupholstered an armchair before (or any other piece of furniture for that matter)?

I haven't. But Joey and I are bound and determined to try! When we bought this house, the previous owners left a few pieces of furniture in it (at our request - they were going to take it to Goodwill). Two of things they left were cushioned arm chairs. You can actually see the chairs sitting on the right side of the living room in this picture (picture taken prior to purchase).

While slightly out-of-date, I knew these chairs had immediate potential. Bonus - they were extremely comfortable. And versatile. They could be used in the living room, dining room, porch - wherever extra seating was needed.

And believe it or not, these retro-style chairs are coming back into style again in a re-purposed sort of way. I've seen them used on HGTV-type shows multiple times.

Well, the other day, Joey decided it was time to give-it-a-go at changing up these bad boys. We knew we not only wanted to reupholster them, but we wanted to paint the wood white as well. To do both, the chair cushions - back and seat - had to be removed. Both chairs were brought into the basement for reconstructive surgery to begin.

Here are a few before shots...



Then the deconstructing began...

...and kept going until the cushioned back became a pile of rubble on the floor.

To which I asked - don't we need something to wrap the new fabric around?

At least the bottom cushion was still in tact (and had been re-framed at some point)...


Next, comes painting the frame. Then reupholstering the cushions. Then re-attaching the cushions to the chair.

The painting we can handle. I think I can even handle reupholstering and attaching the bottom seat cushion. But the back cushion (that is no more) I'm lost on. I'm assuming we can buy new cushion material somewhere and cut it to fit the wood back. But I'm slightly lost. Where should I buy the cushion? Plus the old cushion back had tufted buttons, which I'd like to re-add as well. How do I do that?

Does anyone have any experience in this or any practical advice to offer? It would be greatly appreciated!